Advancements in artificial intelligence are shaking up the world of video creation and production. What was once a labour-intensive task involving expensive equipment and hours of production time can now be achieved by non-skilled professionals with just a few clicks. The AI video generators available today can take a short text script and compose a full video including images, music, and voiceovers. Or you can have your video narrated by a lifelike human avatar. AI-enabled editing tools are also opening up new options for auto-detecting visual elements and modifying them. 

With no expensive equipment and minimal production skills, marketers can rapidly produce videos in over 100 languages. That sounds like potential gold in the hands of an innovative marketing team. In this article, we’ll walk you through the transformative capabilities of AI video makers, some of the best AI tools available today, and some examples of AI-generated video. 

The importance of video marketing for brands

In 2023, online video is expected to account for 82.5% of all web traffic, making it the most popular type of content on the internet. For most marketers, video is a key part of their content strategy. A survey by Wyzowl found that 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, and 96% of marketers who use video say it’s an important part of their marketing strategy.

Of course, generating content in video format is no guarantee of success. Some videos are mind-numbingly boring. But there’s no denying that the sensory impact of videos is superior to text-based content, and that video offers a unique opportunity to deliver an emotional impact that can make your brand unforgettable. 

The evolution of video creation tools

The early days of video production were dominated by powerful software programs like Adobe After Effects. The software was cutting-edge, but also complex as it was aimed at highly trained graphic artists. In recent years we’ve seen several changes, including:

• A broad range of video creation and editing software designed to be intuitive and easy to use
• Affordable price points, making barriers to entry lower
• Massive asset libraries of music and imagery have become more available and affordable
• AI has opened up new capabilities, including the capacity to recommend video elements for you and compose entire videos 
• Digital avatars have become lifelike. Really lifelike. Bordering on creepy lifelike.

Independently of each other, these changes might not radically change the status quo for video production. Add them all together, and you have an entirely new set of possibilities for marketing teams. When the Wyzowl video marketing study asked marketers for their reasons for not using video marketing, 40% of respondents indicated it was due to cost or lack of time. The AI video creators we profile below can dramatically reduce the time and costs of creating professional videos.

The role and benefits of AI in video generation 

Video can be so much more than a showcase promo video on your homepage. The potential benefits of video are applicable to virtually any communication. Expect to see more brands producing how-to videos, internal communication videos, and product videos. 

Video will also increasingly play a role in personalized 1-1 communications. Imagine a traditional sales meeting follow-up. Instead of sending the presentation afterward, the sales rep pulls the key text points from it, adds some personal details related to the prospect, and animates it with an avatar narrating the visual elements of the presentation. Video can deliver a new level of impact. 

The suite of AI video production tools available today enables marketing teams to produce significantly more video content, at a higher level of quality, for a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. With AI video tools, teams can:

• Produce professional-quality video with minimal effort: Some software solutions require just a few words describing your topic, then rapidly generate a high-quality video complete with sound, images, captions, and voiceovers. Many use text-to-video AI capabilities to render a text-based script into a full video composition.
• Leverage enhanced editing tools and capabilities: AI video editors open up new possibilities by detecting objects, backgrounds, and noise levels. Automated sound editing recommendations alone can save hours of production time. Other tools use AI to intelligently incorporate your brand elements into existing videos.
• Localize videos for incredibly low cost: AI video editors using text-to-speech voiceovers or animated avatars can deliver your video content in more languages than you could possibly need. This removes a major cost barrier over prior production methods which required at least some manual effort for every alternative language.
• Combine AI capabilities for a complete video production workflow: Picture this – a marketer with a travel company prompts ChatGPT for some video ideas on vacation cruises. She sorts through those and selects one, then prompts ChatGPT to create a full video script. She then inputs that text into an AI video generator, selects a language and an avatar, and… voila! She has a fully composed video suitable for her business goals.   

The best AI tools for video generation and editing

We’ll start with a group of AI tools that add some level of automation to the task of composing a video. 

AI content generation tools

Fliki: Fliki is a popular tool for creating social media videos. You add text, choose a voice, and the AI generates a video with voiceover and captioning. The platform includes over 1,000 voices in 75 languages.

Invideo: Invideo offers a huge library of over 500 templates, combined with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. It can convert text to video, or you can generate a script using some prompts. Invideo has powerful editing capabilities too. You can remove background images, add music and media, or apply your brand’s colours and fonts with a single click. 

Pronto: Pronto allows users to create and publish videos, track metrics, and optimise for social media channels. Pronto offers custom templates matched to common industry verticals. With just a short description of your business Pronto can generate a highly-polished video, including AI-generated images based on text you provide. 

Runway: Runway is a powerful AI video creator and editor. It uses AI to detect shapes in your video, allowing you to remove or replace them. Some of the most clever AI videos being produced are built on Runway, but be prepared to invest some time in the learning curve of this innovative software.

Looking for more? Raw Shorts specializes in animated videos, auto-composed from any text you input. Designs Ai complements its text-to-speech capabilities with a huge stock library. And 

Lumen5 generates videos from text and video, including existing blog posts or Zoom recordings. 

Video generation tools with avatars:

A few years ago, who would have considered having an avatar as the spokesperson for their brand? Today’s avatars are incredibly lifelike, with AI advancements continually improving their human-like expressions and vocal delivery.

Synthesia: Synthesia can render any text into a video articulated by an avatar. The platform offers over 140 avatars and 120 languages.

Deepbrain: Deepbrain is a similar alternative to Synthesia. The platform includes templates for training videos, how-to videos, marketing videos, explainer videos, and news videos. It also has social media templates for YouTube, Tiktok, and Instagram.

Looking for more? You can continue your search by checking out Synthesys, which has 69 “humatars” speaking 145 languages. Other avatar-based providers to explore include Colossyan, Elai.io, and Rephrase. 

AI-based video editors

Descript: This handy editing tool produces a transcript of a video you record or upload. You simply mark edit points in your text transcript and Descript edits the video file. 

Peech: Peech allows content marketing teams to easily incorporate brand assets (logo, colour scheme) into videos, including customizable subtitles.

Pictory: With Pictory you can effortlessly convert your content – a blog post, Zoom recording, or script – into a short video. Pictory uses AI to automatically extract golden nuggets from within your content. 

Wondershare Filmora: This powerful editor allows you to polish your videos using AI tools such as audio denoising, cutting objects from scenes, and removing backgrounds.

Looking for more? Vidyo.ai auto-generates short clips from longer videos.

Real-life examples of brands using AI-generated videos

At the moment you’ll predominantly find Youtube cluttered with AI-generated video experiments, like the Rock eating rocks. Some of the best examples come from the advertising of the platforms themselves. For a good example of an avatar in action, check out this promo from Synthesia.

Coca-Cola, always an advertising innovator, used AI-generated video to bring an art museum to life in a recent commercial. The advertisement animates classic works of art using a combination of film, 3D and a text-to-image AI model called stable diffusion. It’s a beautiful illustration of the rich visual and creative possibilities of AI-enabled video production. 

Ready to dabble in video magic?

So which is the best? It all depends on your marketing needs and use cases. But whether you’re looking for the best AI music video generator or the best AI image generator, the companies we’ve listed are a great starting point. Most platforms offer a free trial, so get in there and start creating your next masterpiece!

Track your content’s effectiveness with SentiOne Listen

Producing great video content can expand your brand’s reach, engage prospects, and spark new sales. To get the most from your content strategy you need to actively monitor, engage, and optimise your efforts. SentiOne Listen is a powerful social listening platform that helps you track audience engagement in real-time. Monitor brand mentions, conduct trend analysis, or gather insights from SentiOne Listen’s extensive reporting capabilities. To learn more, visit SentiOne.com or book a demo.