ITV launches GenAI Ads Manager
Exclusive
ITV has launched a generative AI production service, dubbed GenAI Ads Manager. The broadcaster claims it can create TV ads for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in under thirty seconds, with a low entry cost.
Billed as a “proof of concept”, the platform, which went live this week, develops ads based on a given brand’s online owned footprint, such as their website or social media pages.
It is actively managed in collaboration with ITV Commercial’s creative production team. Notably, the entire ITV commercial team has also been trained on how to use the platform.
Jason Spencer, ITV’s business development director, told The Media Leader that salespeople will use the tool as a “door opener” in proactive conversations with new-to-TV advertisers.
“When we’re trying to engage someone who might have historically said, ‘I can’t afford that, I can’t do that, it’s too complicated, ‘ this now gets them to think again. Because when we contact them, we’ve already made their first ad,” he said.
ITV first announced it would offer generative AI-based creative production services to SMEs last September, when it launched two AI-produced ads for Travel House and Sheepbridge Interiors.
Since then, Spencer revealed AI has been integrated into the wider creative production process at ITV in order to make various tasks — from storyboarding and ideation to “improving little elements” — more efficient.
“It’s part of the day-to-day”, he said, adding that not only has the tech improved over the past year, but the wider ad market has become more acclimatised to the idea of using AI to assist in the creative process.
Strict governance
The GenAI Ads Manager serves as the next stage in the broadcaster’s strategy to attract new investment from the long tail of UK advertisers.
It comes as ITV, Channel 4, and Sky have collaborated on making TV advertising more accessible to a wider range of brands, such as through the forthcoming launch of an SME-centred marketplace (in partnership with Comcast) and a new measurement framework, Lantern, focused on measuring the impact TV ads have on short- and long-term outcomes.
Are AI ads the future of TV? With ITV’s Jason Spencer and Alan Hall
ITV’s AI service leverages Magnite’s Streamr.AI as the basis for video generation, with the platform built bespoke for ITV’s needs. Channel 4 has also previously partnered with Streamr.AI on its own generative AI ad production proposition. Streamr.AI also contributes to Comcast’s Universal Ads effort in the US.
Like Channel 4, ITV has integrated the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP) into the creation and feedback process of its AI model. The result is a higher likelihood that ads created using AI meet regulatory requirements and can thus be cleared by ClearCast, a necessary condition for advertising on TV.
Apart from brand assets, the tool is also designed to only pull from other creative assets, such as voiceovers and music, which ITV has overseen. This will address any potential concerns over copyright infringement.
“Rest assured, there’s a strict internal governance at ITV around AI,” added Spencer. “We’ve looked at that rigorously. We’ve made sure that we protect the supply chain within that.”
Reducing the entry level
The platform is open to all new-to-TV SME advertisers. Currently, the broadcaster works with 200 such brands annually. However, Spencer indicated the GenAI Ads Manager is meant to cater to a “very different” part of the market than it has historically worked with.
Previously, ITV’s entry-level point for small businesses would be working with creative production lead Alan Hall and his team to develop a TV spot. For brands seeking a more sophisticated approach, they can utilise an external production company.
GenAI Ads Manager targets the group of brands “at the stage before” they might consider working with Hall’s team — advertisers that may currently be leveraging AI tools to help develop creative for ads on social platforms, and that might have a campaign budget below four figures.
“This is really for some of those SMEs who are ready to take the first step into TV, that don’t have big production budgets, that are not necessarily looking for award-winning ads, but are looking for ads that are fit-for-purpose that we can get on TV,” Spencer explained.
The platform will run in the proof-of-concept stage for a “defined period” before being iterated on in beta, followed by a full release. Spencer declined to commit to a timeline of development, but expressed optimism that it would help make headway in sales.
“I’ve already seen, this week, some of our junior staff making great ads,” he said. “You can make the initial ad within 30 seconds. With a few [changes], within three or four minutes, you’ve got an ad that’s ready to go on TV, of decent quality.”
Spencer concluded: “If you think about how many advertisers there are in the UK, and how many are on TV, there’s quite a big gap. What we’re trying to do is reduce that gap: get people on for the first time, [give them] a good experience, then they scale up to more sophisticated creative, and we build the brand leaders of tomorrow off the back of this.”