The news: Meta accelerated its genAI push at the 2026 IAB NewFronts, expanding its suite of Advantage+ AI tools.

• Agencies and brands will gain the ability to create UGC-style videos with voiceovers and avatars on Meta platforms. Meta noted that this feature will ideally simplify video ad production while maintaining high-quality storytelling for brands of all sizes.
• Meta is testing tools that will allow advertisers to add AI-generated voiceovers for existing generated images and videos.
• A genAI voiceover translation feature is expanding to more advertisers and will now include translations for text in image overlays. Advertisers can leverage a new streamlined flow in Meta’s Ads Manager tool to translate creative in one step.
• During beta testing, advertisers that used the AI-powered video generation tool for most of their campaign ads saw average gains of 10% in CTR and 8% in CVR.

Meta’s AI push: The company’s AI strategy aims to make ad production faster, easier, and scalable, shifting away from manual processes.

• Meta expanded its available AI ad features in early 2025, focusing on boosting investment in AI model Andromeda; advancing tools and placements within Advantage+ campaigns; and promoting creative use cases like text generation for catalog ads and AI models.
• Meta previously debuted tools like Image Animation, which allows advertisers to transform static images into video for Reels, and Video Expansion, which alters aspect ratios by generating pixels to improve ad immersion.

Will it pay off? Advanced, more affordable campaign creation on major social platforms will make Meta advertising easier and more accessible to many brands. This could significantly benefit advertisers as time spent with Reels grew 30% YoY in Q4, while 85% of content reshared via messages is now Reels, per Meta. The company also noted that Facebook US video time spent is growing double-digits YoY.

But AI-generated campaign creative has some obvious caveats. Only 11% of US social media users find genAI content useful or entertaining, per CNET; meanwhile, only 12% are more likely to purchase from brands if they know AI was used in ads, and only 22% view AI in ads positively, per CivicScience.

Consumers increasingly assess ads for authenticity—60% look for clear AI cues in images and videos, and 30% seek labels or disclosures, per CNET. This active scrutiny suggests that AI ad content must be especially convincing to overcome consumer doubt and preferences—and while Meta’s tools certainly speed up ad production, the company hasn’t fully proven they can overcome skepticism.

Implications for marketers: Approach Meta’s new AI features as a helpful bonus to streamline content creation, but test and iterate image and video generation features like AI avatars and other visuals, which still face higher levels of consumer scrutiny.

Other features, like expanded translation capabilities, will give access to a broader audience and are likely to face less pushback from consumers, since they enhance accessibility without raising the same authenticity concerns as AI-generated avatars or visuals.