Make Ads or Make Stories
Why AI creators are becoming ad agencies—and what that means for the future of generative AI storytelling.
A study last summer by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) found that 90 percent of advertisers were using, or planning to use, generative AI for video ads in 2025. The study projected these tools would be used in 40 percent of all ads by 2026. The Verge recently reported that an AI-generated ad for the prediction market Kalshi—which aired during a primetime 2025 NBA finals slot—cost only $2,000 and two days using Google’s Veo 3 AI model. Dentsu projects global ad spend will surpass $1 trillion in 2026 for the first time, growing 5.1% despite economic headwinds.
For AI storytellers, this reflects a market dynamic I have been learning about in my interviews and research, and have been writing about since November. AI storytellers currently orchestrate workflows across multiple tools—OpenAI, Runway, Pika, ElevenLabs—and face two monetization paths: Some monetize content through storytelling on YouTube (e.g., Josh Wallace Kerrigan aka “Neural Viz”). Others produce advertising for major brands (Secret Level’s recent Christmas ad for Coca-Cola).
This creates two parallel monetization paths to the future for AI creators.
