Using AI for Video Marketing Content

GenAI Transforms Video Creation

The cost and time needed for video production have greatly decreased. This is due to the widespread use of smartphones for capturing video and the rise of generative artificial intelligence, which has transformed the creation process. Companies plan to increase their investments in this technology, as video is a powerful tool for capturing attention.

The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) found that 61 percent of marketers anticipate their organizations will increase video investments. Currently, 42 percent of marketing organizations use AI to create videos, up from 18 percent the previous year, according to CMI.

GenAI Beyond Video Production

Chris Lavigne, head of production at Wistia, says genAI is also used in preproduction processes. He notes that genAI's planning, scripting, storyboarding, and ideation capabilities are more developed than text-to-video tools. The CMI report confirms that most marketers use AI in preproduction (scripting and brainstorming) or postproduction editing (voice dubbing and generating visuals). According to the report, 80 percent of these users believe AI streamlines video production, speeding up turnaround times and improving content quality.

Quint Boa, founder of Synima, explains that text-to-video tools use diffusion models trained on millions of video clips to generate visuals from prompts. Voice cloning uses neural networks trained on voice samples to re-create speech patterns, intonation, and emotional cues. Lip-sync avatars combine speech-to-text with facial landmark animation to sync voice with realistic face movement.

Lavigne says that the technology is rapidly evolving, especially for inanimate objects but human expressions remain more challenging.

Krish Mantripragada, chief product officer of Seismic, says context is critical, especially in B2B environments. B2B companies should create content specific to their company and situation. AI must be grounded in enterprise content. He adds that it’s more about assembling and customizing content based on an approved source of truth. This ensures AI-generated content adheres to brand tone, company policies, industry regulations, and approved messaging. The technology can also incorporate business context, such as customer information, industry, deal stage, prior interactions, and products being pitched, to create relevant video content.

Lavigne recalls that transcribing video for documentaries used to be time-consuming. Today, time codes are automatically linked to transcripts, and AI can analyze video transcripts and suggest edits automatically. He expects programmatic video editing to be available soon.

Mantripragada notes that genAI excels at creating multimodal learning content to accommodate different learning needs and preferences. GenAI tools can create audio and video lessons, podcasts, and study guides from source content. Users can interact with AI to ask probing questions, and grounding it with enterprise content ensures relevant information.

Limitations and Oversight

Lavigne says genAI video often defies the laws of physics and struggles to accurately portray human emotion. Face distortions can also occur. However, he says these limitations could be temporary.

Establishing guardrails is important for ensuring genAI tools are used appropriately in video creation. Lavigne emphasizes notifying talent and recommends talent release forms to specify permission to synthesize their likeness. Human review of the content produced is also critical to ensure accuracy and quality. Boa says AI can’t guarantee copyright safety, so it’s important to have clear policies on copyright checking for all AI-generated assets. Basic security protocols should also be established to store sensitive or proprietary prompts/scripts securely.

CMI’s research indicated that 66 percent of marketing organizations have security measures in place specific to the use of genAI.

AI: Empowering, Not Replacing

Lavigne says genAI is a tool, like Photoshop, and video producers must understand how to use it to improve their workflow. He adds that video production still requires storytelling and eliciting emotion.

Mantripragada agrees, emphasizing that AI empowers content creators. He says it allows marketing, enablement, and training teams to create different content formats quickly and cost-effectively. He says that users of AI video tools don’t need to be experts but should be comfortable with the technology and understand prompt engineering. Content creators will still need to validate the quality of AI-generated content.

Mantripragada describes this as an exciting time, saying genAI is a transformational technology that is revolutionizing our jobs. Boa, Lavigne, and Mantripragada suggest that the technology is rapidly evolving.