AI is quickly becoming a big part of video marketing.
In fact, 51% of video marketers now use AI tools to create or edit their videos. It’s faster, easier, and more scalable — but it’s not always the right fit for every brand.
In this post, we’ll break down what to consider before deciding whether you should use AI in video marketing.
What AI Can Do in Video Marketing Today
AI is transforming how marketers create and scale video content. Here are some of the key capabilities:
- Automated video editing: AI can now handle video editing tasks like cutting scenes, adding captions, removing backgrounds, and applying consistent styles. With the help of AI video editors, these processes become faster, more efficient, and less reliant on manual effort.
- Dynamic personalization at scale: AI makes it possible to insert customer names, actions, or preferences into videos automatically, helping deliver highly targeted and relevant content.
- Text-to-video generation: AI can take written content such as scripts or marketing messages and turn it into complete videos using digital avatars and synthetic voices.
- Multilingual and localization support: AI-driven voice cloning and dubbing make it easy to adapt video content for different languages and regions, helping brands reach global audiences more efficiently.
Pros & Cons of AI in Video Marketing
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Fast and cost-effective content creation | May feel impersonal or artificial |
| Scales personalization easily | Risk of privacy or compliance issues |
| Supports multiple languages quickly | Lacks emotional depth or storytelling nuance |
| Automates repetitive video tasks | Creative limitations and over-reliance on templates |
Benefits of AI in Video Marketing
1. Cost & Time Efficiency: AI simplifies video creation and helps reduce both production time and costs. For example, you can generate a product video in minutes using a script, with no need for cameras or editing software. Tools like Synthesia include an AI avatar generator, which, in many cases, can replace actors and help small teams produce high-quality content more efficiently.
2. Creates Personalized Videos: AI can change specific parts of a video to match the person watching. For example, a company might send one version of a video that says the viewer’s name and shows products they recently viewed. This kind of personalization makes the video feel more relevant and helps keep the viewer’s attention.
3. Easier To Connect With Global Markets: AI can help you produce the same message in multiple languages. This helps you reach more people without creating new content from scratch every time. For example, an online course provider turns one English training video into Spanish, French, and German versions in minutes and shares them with international learners.
4. Helps with SEO: AI can generate subtitles, transcripts, and translated versions of your videos. This makes it easier for search engines to understand your content, which can improve how your videos rank and help more people find them online. Some SEO tools, like Ahrefs, offer AI features to support video content. For example, you can use a free AI YouTube video description generator from Ahrefs to quickly craft compelling, optimized summaries that improve your video’s visibility in search results.
5. Real-Time Analytics & Performance Optimization: AI tracks engagement metrics (watch time, drop-off points, click-through rates) to optimize videos. Predictive AI suggests the best posting times and content formats for maximum reach.
6. Improves Video Search & Discovery: AI isn’t just for creating videos — it also helps manage and analyze them. Google Video AI can automatically detect objects, actions, and scenes in your content, making it easier to tag, search, and organize large video libraries. This is especially useful for brands that want to build highlight reels, improve content recommendations, or make their video archives more accessible and searchable.
Risks and Limitations
Besides the benefits, there are also important risks and limitations to consider when using AI in video marketing. Understanding these will help you decide when AI is a good fit—and when a human touch is still needed.
Here are some key points to keep in mind, with examples to make them clearer:
1. Some Videos May Feel Unnatural: AI-generated avatars and voices can sometimes come across as stiff or robotic. For example, a welcome video using an AI presenter might lack facial expressions or energy, which could make it feel less engaging to viewers.
2. Hard To Show Real Emotion: AI struggles to express feelings like excitement, empathy, or concern. In emotional storytelling—such as charity campaigns or customer testimonials—a real person often connects better with the audience than a digital avatar.
3. Limited Creativity: AI can follow instructions, but it doesn’t come up with fresh ideas or humor. For example, if you need a clever ad concept or cultural reference, a human creative team will likely do a better job than AI alone.
4. Legal & Ethical Concerns: There are risks in using AI to create realistic faces or voices, especially if they resemble real people. Some countries are introducing new rules about how AI-generated content can be used. For instance, the European Union is working on the AI Act, which could impact how companies use these tools.
5. Dependence on Third-Party Platforms: Most AI video tools are cloud-based and owned by external companies. If one of these tools becomes unavailable, raises its prices, or removes a feature, your video process could be disrupted. You also have to trust how these platforms handle your data.
Compliance & Privacy You Cannot Ignore
When using AI in video marketing, especially for personalized content, you’re often handling personal data. That means following privacy laws, platform requirements, and marketing compliance standards to protect user trust and avoid legal risks.
Here’s what to keep in mind:
Personalized Videos Use Personal Data
Any video that includes a viewer’s name, purchase history, or location is considered to be using personal data. For example, a video that says “Hi John, here’s a discount on the sneakers you viewed last week” must follow data privacy rules.
Some example rules that apply
- GDPR (Europe): Requires explicit, informed consent or another lawful basis before collecting or processing personal data, with strong transparency and data protection obligations.
- CCPA/CPRA (California): Gives consumers the right to opt out of the sale of their personal information and automated decision-making used for personalized marketing.
- Other laws like VCDPA (Virginia) and PDPA (Singapore): Include similar rights to opt out of targeted advertising and require transparency in AI-driven marketing practices.
What Platforms Expect
Tech companies like Google and Meta now require marketers to use consent tools if they are using data for retargeting, personalization, or analytics. If you don’t meet these rules, your ads or tools may stop working.
Best Practices To Stay Safe
- Use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) if your video tracks user behavior or includes personal data.
- Avoid using sensitive information like health, financial status, or race in AI-generated videos.
- Always be clear with viewers about how their data is being used and give them an option to opt out.
What Users Are Saying
To better understand how people feel about AI in video marketing, we did a quick search across online conversations. Here’s what real users think:
Most people are split. Some are pretty excited about how AI tools like Synthesia or HeyGen can help them make quick videos, especially when they don’t have a big budget or need to test out a bunch of different messages fast. They say it saves time, and for things like internal training or quick social posts, it’s “good enough.”
Others are more skeptical. A few users mentioned that AI videos feel robotic or fake, and that can hurt a brand’s image if it’s overused—especially if you’re trying to build trust or look professional. Some even said that if they can tell it’s AI-generated, they instantly scroll past it or lose interest.
A few also brought up the idea that using AI is okay as a starting point—like drafting a script or getting ideas—but that real human editing or presence is still needed to make the content feel authentic.
In short, users are saying AI can be a helpful tool, but you’ve got to use it carefully and not rely on it too much if you care about how your brand comes across.
Questions To Ask Before Using AI Video
Before you start using AI in your video marketing, it’s worth taking a step back to make sure it’s the right fit for your goals and audience. These quick questions can help guide your decision:
✅ What type of content am I creating, and does it need a human presence to feel authentic?
✅ Am I using customer data, and do I have clear consent to use it in video content?
✅ Will my audience be comfortable with AI-generated presenters or synthetic voices?
✅ Have I checked that my video use meets privacy laws in all the regions I’m targeting?
If you’re already using AI in your video marketing, we’d be happy to know what you think — what’s worked, what’s been tricky, or what surprised you. Maybe some parts felt easy, while others took more time to figure out.
Feel free to share your thoughts or ask questions. We’re always here to help and curious to learn how others are using AI creatively.
