Pick up your phone and open social media. What makes you stop scrolling? It’s not a 3-minute ad with a dramatic voiceover. It’s probably a 30-second clip that made you laugh, or perhaps it explained something quickly. And that right there is the power of short-form videos today.
Short videos started out as a cool new trend, but they’ve become the norm pretty fast. Now, pair that with AI, which is already incredibly powerful. No camera crew, no actors, no weeks upon weeks of editing, no spending thousands on production! All you need are a few clicks and some short text, and you have a complete video that’s ready to be published.
This makes it seem like traditional marketing is dead, but that’s not the case (at least not yet). It still has its place, but things are definitely changing.
The real question all of us should be asking ourselves is whether short-form AI videos will outpace traditional marketing, so let’s dig a little deeper into that.
The Rise of AI-Generated Short Form Content
Short-form AI clips are the new way to grab attention, so it’s no wonder that so many brands are asking, “Can ChatGPT generate videos?”
These videos are not manually filmed like you would expect. There are no actual cameras involved, no actors, no editing, no crew, etc. All you need to do is type a script or feed in some prompts, and the platform creates a polished video that you can post right away. If you like the sound of this, you’ll be happy to know that there are many tools out there that can help you roll out product demos and social media updates in a fraction of the time it used to take.
And the timing really couldn’t be better because everybody is already on their phones all the time, and nobody has the patience to sit through a long video anymore. People want content that delivers a message in under a minute.
This can be especially powerful for startups and small businesses that don’t have the money for huge ad campaigns.
With AI, they have the chance to compete with bigger brands because their videos can be just as engaging and just as professional-looking.
Comparing Speed, Cost, and Accessibility with Traditional Marketing
A traditional marketing campaign is slow (usually is, anyway).
You first spend weeks brainstorming to get ideas, then you need to write a script, hire actors, film, and then edit the whole thing before it goes live. As necessary as marketing is, going about it this way is a lot of work.
AI videos, however, flip all of this on its head and allow you to produce a professional video in only a few hours, sometimes even minutes.
And the cost difference? If you were to pay for a TV commercial or a high-production digital ad, you’d have to spend tens of thousands of dollars.
But with AI, you don’t need all that money because production doesn’t cost nearly as much. And since the tools are accessible through the cloud, a small team in one country can create content that instantly reaches a global audience, which is something that’s really hard to do with traditional marketing.
Not only is this alternative faster and cheaper, but it also provides a much more flexible approach to marketing that matches the modern, heavily digital environment.
Engagement and Consumer Reports to AI-Generated Videos
Short, AI-generated videos naturally have the advantage of increasing engagement and getting more traffic, and part of the reason for that is structural. Algorithms on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are designed to push quick content in front of users’ feeds, and older ad formats usually get either buried or people skip them.
There’s also a psychological edge here because people are more willing to watch a 20-second clip that gets to the point fast than a 2-minute commercial that feels way longer than it needs to be.
But not every response is positive. Some people hate anything that’s AI because they’re concerned about authenticity.
Early studies and brand experiments suggest the picture is mixed – while audiences are highly receptive to short, useful clips they find entertaining, they engage way less if the video feels generic or if it’s too obvious that they’re machine-generated.
It boils down to this: AI short-form is great at grabbing attention, but brands still have to keep things authentic or they’ll lose the consumers’ trust.
Where Short-Form AI Videos Fit in a Marketing Strategy
The value that AI videos have is in their speed, adaptability, creativity, and the fact that you can scale content without being left penniless. But that doesn’t mean that you should treat AI short-form videos as a replacement for everything that came before.
The smart thing to do would be to see where they can make the biggest impact and stick to that.
Product Launches and Announcements
When you have a new product or a service and it’s ready to get on the market, it’s all about timing.
Short AI videos make it possible to put out teasers and quick announcements at the exact moment you need to build buzz. You won’t have to wait weeks for a production team to create content for the launch.
Instead, you can publish professional snippets across all your socials within hours, so you can keep the momentum high and keep audiences engaged right from the start.
Training and Internal Communication
Short AI videos aren’t limited to external marketing; they also work great inside a company. You can use them to onboard new employees, walk everyone through software updates, send out quick reminders, reduce the number of meetings, etc.
A short, clear video can deliver the same message in a format people are more likely to watch all the way through and remember.
Social Media Advertising
Social media likes speed and trends, which is why short AI videos fit in so well. TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and AI videos work perfectly well for all of these. AI tools can quickly create clips that are optimized for vertical viewing and tailored to each platform’s style.
This flexibility can help your brand stay current with trends while producing enough volume to stay visible in feeds.
Personalized Customer Outreach
Today, customers don’t want generic content. They want something that speaks directly to them, and AI videos make that possible at scale. A company can create personalized snippets that address different demographics, languages, and even individual customers with customized offers.
Before AI, this was possible only if you had a huge budget, but now, it’s become an accessible way to connect with people on a more personal level.
It can help you build stronger relationships without stretching your team thin.
Complementing Instead of Replacing Traditional Ads
Short AI videos are everywhere, and nobody can argue with the value they bring to the table. However, there are still places where traditional advertising does better. High-prestige campaigns like Super Bowl ads, for example, still capture attention in ways a 20-second clip can’t.
It’s not about trying to pit one against the other, but to use both options so they complement each other. You should use AI shorts for quick, cost-effective touchpoints and leave traditional formats where moments with depth, scale, and emotional impact are important.
Conclusion
One thing is for sure – traditional marketing isn’t going anywhere, but it’s definitely got some serious competition. Short AI videos are fast, cheap, accessible, and incredibly adaptable. All this makes them perfect for a world that loves to scroll.
But let’s be clear: a 20-second video won’t replace the emotional punch of a carefully created long-form campaign.
What it can do is fill in those in-between moments where attention spans are almost non-existent, but opportunities are all around.
