Last updated October 26, 2026
Are commercials being AI-generated?
Yes. Global brands are already running them. Coca-Cola’s “Holidays Are Coming” remake, built by AI studio Silverside AI using Runway among other tools, became one of the brand’s highest-performing ads ever, according to System1 data.
Per Marketing Dive, Toys “R” Us produced an origin film made with OpenAI’s Sora about its founder and Geoffrey the Giraffe. And during Game 3 of the 2025 NBA Finals, the prediction market Kalshi aired a surreal, chaotic ad made with Google’s Veo 3. Business Insider reported it was made with AI for about $2,000, in roughly three days, per a Kalshi spokesperson.
According to IAB’s 2026 AI Ad Gap report, 83% of ad executives say their company has deployed AI in the creative process, up from 60% in 2024.
Some of these ads are polished enough to run as AI commercials on TV next to a traditionally shot spot. Others lean into the strangeness on purpose. Many ads generated with AI have developed their own genre of surreal, slightly-off humor that performs well on social platforms even though they might not have cleared a traditional creative review. Some of the best, funny AI-generated commercials (Kalshi’s surreal NBA Finals spot among them) get shared because they look a little off. Strangeness can be a hook.
Should you make commercials with AI?
That depends on the ad. A 30-second product demo for a paid social test doesn't carry the same risk as a national TV spot tied to brand identity, and that should factor into your decision.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Cuts production cost from a full crew and location shoot to a fraction of that price | Consumers are less positive about AI-made ads than advertisers expect, so disclosure and quality control matter |
| Produces dozens of variations for A/B testing in the time it takes to even book a traditional shoot | A surge of low-quality "AI slop" promoting dropshipped goods has made some audiences skeptical by default |
| Builds complex scenes (crowds, weather, night exteriors, distant locations) without actors or a location crew | Nailing a specific brand look still takes iteration and a trained eye |
| Compresses timelines from weeks to days for time-sensitive campaigns | Disclosure requirements for AI-generated content are new and still being finalized in several jurisdictions |
For most teams, the calculation comes down to stakes. High-volume performance ads and social tests are where AI-generated commercials save the most money for the least risk. A hero brand campaign still benefits from a human director making the final creative calls. IAB’s report shows why that matters: 82% of ad executives think Gen Z and Millennial consumers feel positive about AI ads, while only 45% of those consumers do.
In-house production or an agency?
Marketing teams considering AI commercials usually land on one of two paths.
In-house makes sense when a team needs volume: dozens of localized variations or a budget that can’t support agency retainers. The tradeoff is that someone internally needs to develop the skill of directing an AI tool, the same way an in-house team develops skills with any production software.
An agency is often the right call for campaigns where creative direction and legal review matter more than speed. Many production companies and ad agencies are now building AI into their own workflows, using it to generate more concepts per brief and reserving the crew for the shots AI can’t handle.
Still, this is rarely a one-time decision. Even if a team starts by outsourcing every AI-generated commercial to an agency, they often end up bringing the highest-volume, lowest-risk work in-house once someone on staff has logged enough hours directing an AI tool to feel comfortable with the output. The reverse happens too: a team that starts fully in-house sometimes hands major campaigns off to an agency if they start feeling that there's too much at stake. Neither path is a permanent commitment, and it's worth asking yourself which commercials are worth which approach at the start of every campaign.
How to make a commercial with AI
A typical AI commercial workflow runs through four stages.
- Write the concept and script before generating anything: define the audience and hook, then sketch a rough shot list. A clear brief produces better output than an open-ended prompt.
- Generate footage with Runway’s AI video generator, which turns a text or image prompt into scenes or full product sequences without a camera crew. Check out our tips on getting realistic results; specificity about lighting, lens, camera movement and framing matters more than a longer prompt.
- Use AI voiceover tools to generate narration in multiple languages and emotional tones, and AI music tools to build a custom score or jingle.
- Cut the final spot in a text-based or AI-assisted editor, then add captions and resize it for every platform you plan to run it on.
Here is a prompt you can adapt for step 2:
Product commercial shot
CommercialSlow push-in on a matte black water bottle on a wet concrete ledge at dusk, city lights soft in the background, shallow depth of field, 35mm lens, condensation beading on the bottle.
| Ad type | Tool worth trying |
|---|---|
| Product demo or e-commerce ad | Runway Agent turns a single image or video into a full campaign: commercials, video ads, product videos, social posts and image ads, each sized for its placement. |
| Localized regional spot | ElevenLabs for voiceover and dubbing, paired with a video generation model for the visuals |
| Social-first, high-volume testing | Runway Ads, for generating, testing and publishing ads in one place |
| Cinematic brand spot | Runway, which brings AI video generation and editing together in one tool for creating cinematic content, for teams that want direct creative control over every shot |
Our guide to producing AI video faster covers how to move quickly without cutting corners on quality, which helps when you’re working against a launch deadline. For the product demo path above, start with Runway Agent.
The future of AI-generated commercials
The next shift in AI-generated commercials will be personalization on a large scale, without dozens of separate shoots. Production budgets can’t support the same campaign generated in dozens of versions tailored to region, platform, language or even individual viewer, but AI can. Brands that used to choose one hero spot and run it everywhere will be able to treat that first spot as a template instead of a finished product.
The other shift will be in areas where AI-generated work has to clear the same bar as other content. Broadcast and paid media have always required content to meet delivery and disclosure standards. AI-generated commercials, like iPhone footage before them, are starting to clear that broadcast-ready bar, including the compliance checks.
Frequently asked questions
How many commercials have been made with AI?
There’s no single official count, since AI use in production ranges from full generation to smaller assists like voiceover or background replacement. IAB’s 2026 survey offers a proxy: 83% of ad executives said their company uses AI in creative work. Fully AI-generated commercials, meaning ones with no traditional shoot at all, are still a minority of ads run today.
What commercials are made with AI?
Recent examples include Coca-Cola’s AI-assisted holiday campaign and Toys “R” Us’s AI origin story video. Kalshi’s surreal NBA Finals spot showed the same approach works on a small budget. Smaller brands and agencies use AI even more heavily for social ads and the rapid A/B variations that would be too expensive to shoot traditionally.
Is advertising with AI illegal?
No, but it’s regulated. In the US, the FTC has said there is no AI exemption from existing law, so its deceptive-advertising and endorsement rules still apply. Its 2024 rule banning fake reviews and testimonials covers AI-generated ones from people who don’t exist, and paid relationships still need disclosure.
New York has required advertisers to disclose AI-generated synthetic performers since June 9, 2026, under a law Governor Hochul signed in December 2025. A first violation carries a $1,000 civil penalty and later ones $5,000, and audio-only ads and AI used only to translate a human performer are excluded.
Under the EU AI Act, transparency rules apply from August 2, 2026, according to the European Commission. Under the Article 50 labelling requirements, realistic AI-generated image, audio or video that would falsely appear authentic, such as a lifelike presenter or a real person’s likeness, must be labeled.
A lighter track exists for “evidently artistic, creative, satirical, fictional or analogous” works: the disclosure can be made in a way that doesn’t hamper the display or enjoyment of the work, such as in accompanying materials instead of on the content itself. Advertisers shouldn’t count on it. According to law firm Davis+Gilbert’s summary of the Commission’s guidelines, the exception is read narrowly, and where a spot combines commercial and creative character, the commercial character generally prevails, so advertising rarely qualifies. Make sure your team carefully reviews disclosure requirements for your market and location, as they change frequently.
Can you use AI-generated commercials as paid media?
Yes. With Runway, you own full commercial rights to the video you create and can run it as paid media on TikTok, Meta, YouTube and anywhere else you advertise.
A commercial improves with every round of footage, so the fastest way to learn is to generate a first cut and refine it. Make yours with Runway’s AI video generator, then edit, caption and resize it for every platform you plan to run it on. Get started for free.
Related: Video marketing for business · AI UGC · AI storyboard
