The news: Disney is preparing to launch a tool that will allow brands to create AI-generated TV ads in July, Business Insider reported Wednesday. The entertainment giant announced plans to launch the tool at CES in January. That announcement pointed to the tool’s ability to devise TV ads using brands’ existing creative assets.

Disney Entertainment and ESPN chief product and technology officer Adam Smith told employees the tool can generate creative including video, scripts, and music. Smith noted that the tool is specifically tailored to small and medium-sized advertisers with stricter budgets and fewer video assets.

Set to debut in beta, the tool will eventually be accessible through Disney’s self-service ad platform.

The trend: Media and connected TV (CTV) competitors are already making similar moves—putting pressure on Disney to catch up if it wants to remain competitive in using AI to capture small business spending.

• Amazon offers Creative Agent, an AI-powered tool that can generate streaming TV ads. The tool offers a conversational interface where advertisers can brainstorm creative ideas, generate storyboards, and produce professional-quality video and display ads in hours.
• Google offers several tools to generate AI video creative: Its Google Ads platform uses AI model Veo for image-to-video generation; Google Vids uses Gemini and Veo to build campaign storyboards and generate video clips from simple prompts; and Asset Studio enables brands to generate assets, resize videos, and add automated voiceovers.
• Meta’s genAI ad creation tools include its Advantage AI suite, which allows agencies and brands to create UGC-style videos with voiceovers and avatars on Meta platforms; it also offers Image Animation to turn static images into video for Reels.

Implications for marketers: Investing in AI ad creation tools is a necessity for platforms and media companies to stay ahead in the modern entertainment landscape, but lingering questions of consumer receptiveness to these ads remain.

For marketers interested in testing Disney’s and similar tools, disclosure is paramount.

Consumers across the board want advertisers to disclose AI-generated video more than any other medium, per IAB and Sonata Insights. Among the consumers who want disclosures, 73% said knowing an ad was made with AI would increase or not affect purchase likelihood. That suggests transparency won’t necessarily undermine AI-generated ads’ effectiveness—and may even help brands build trust as the format becomes more common.