Marketers Hold Back on AI for Influencer CTV

By Stephanie Brooks 13/07/2026 3 min read 6 views

Marketers are still holding back on using artificial intelligence for influencer campaigns and connected‑TV (CTV) advertising, according to a recent Modern Retail+ Research survey of more than 100 professionals conducted in the first quarter of 2026.

AI adoption lags behind in influencer marketing

Only 25% of respondents said they currently employ AI in their influencer work. The majority of those users, 75%, rely on the technology to crunch data, while 63% use it to generate content and 56% apply it for outreach to creators. The low overall uptake may reflect lingering concerns about authenticity.

A study from the World Federation of Advertisers in April 2025 found that 96% of brands not planning to work with virtual influencers cite trust issues as a primary barrier. Virtual influencers are fully AI‑generated avatars, such as the viral Wimbledon‑themed character Mia Zel, whose appearance and voice are controlled by a behind‑the‑scenes team.

Some marketers are beginning to test AI tools for influencer tasks. Beekman 1802, a skin‑care brand, partnered with analytics firm Bezel to feed its CRM and Shopify data into large language models, uncovering detailed consumer personas that now shape campaign strategy. “We were able to throw all of our data at a large language model and really understand deeply who this consumer is and how many subtypes of consumer we have,” said chief digital officer David Baker.

Independent agency Later uses an AI system to match campaign briefs with human creators and forecast content performance based on historic engagement. Its CEO Scott Sutton told Digiday that the approach offers “a much richer picture” and boosts confidence in achieving a high return on ad spend.

Creators themselves are also turning to AI. A report from Wondercraft indicated that 80% of influencers use AI at some point in their workflow. POP.STORE’s new AI ECHO ME program, described by CEO Gautam Goswami, can scan an influencer’s direct messages and emails to flag brand inquiries, assess the size of the sender, and highlight any clear monetary offers. “Creators are basically chickens with their heads cut off running around all day long,” Goswami said, noting that many creators claim 80% of DMs go unanswered.

Connected‑TV advertising remains cautious about AI

When asked about AI use in CTV campaigns, 82% of surveyed marketers said they do not employ the technology for streaming advertising. This contrasts with other channels where AI adoption is higher.

AI‑driven ad tech firm Rembrand’s chief marketing officer Cory Treffiletti warned that structural barriers, such as fragmented identity resolution and siloed measurement, still hinder AI integration for interruptive ad formats.

In April 2026, a coalition of AI researchers, including several Netflix engineers, introduced a tool called VOID that can edit video by removing objects and understanding scene relationships. The team described the system as applying “high‑level reasoning and world knowledge” from vision‑language models, suggesting future improvements as generative models advance.

While the technical capabilities are expanding, many advertisers remain hesitant to hand over premium CTV creative to AI. “CTV is the type of creative that advertisers are most precious about,” said an industry observer. “There is hesitancy to turn that over to an AI creative technology, where if something looks a little bit off, it could make the whole creative fall apart.”

Adoption remains slow.