AI-Assisted Video: The Middle Ground Between Generation and Rejection

AI's role in streaming video is splitting into two tracks: invisible operational efficiency (scene-level ad targeting, creative auditing) and visible production enhancement (camera effects, sports overlays). The panel's framing — AI-assisted rather than AI-generated — reflects an industry navigating documented consumer resistance to fully synthetic content. NBCU's scene-level contextual targeting on Peacock, where ads are timed to live sports moments like a paper towel spot after a fumble, shows major publishers embedding AI into ad infrastructure as a default capability. Watch whether the gap between large-publisher AI ad infrastructure and what smaller platforms can offer turns contextual targeting into a competitive moat.

Consumer resistance to AI-generated content is well-documented and growing. Per a Gartner survey of 1,539 U.S. consumers conducted October 2025 and reported March 2026, 50% of consumers say they would prefer to give their business to brands that do not use GenAI in consumer-facing content. A YouGov study of UK adults, published in 2025, found that only 26% would engage with content if they knew it was created or co-created by AI, while 53% would not. The same study showed viewers are comfortable with AI in supportive roles — subtitles, recommendations — but least comfortable with AI generating actors or core creative elements.

The gap between advertiser and consumer perception is widening. Per IAB's 2026 study conducted with Sonata Insights, 82% of ad executives believe Gen Z and Millennial consumers feel positive about AI-generated ads, nearly double the 45% of consumers who actually do. IAB's research recommends using AI to enhance creative quality rather than produce advertising assets more cheaply — directly aligning with the AI-assisted middle ground described at the StreamTV Show panel.

On the contextual targeting front, investment is accelerating. Omnicom Media and NBCUniversal announced a partnership on June 25, 2026, to co-develop Dynamic Contextual Content (DCC), currently in beta with a U.S. launch expected by year-end. Separately, Warner Bros. Discovery's HBO Max launched Moments, a contextual ad format powered by KERV.ai, which has identified more than 25,000 moments across HBO Max content. In the U.S., the format has delivered a 19% lift in viewer engagement and a 13% lift in purchase intent, per WBD. NBCU's own Live Contextual capabilities are slated for Q4 2026, enabling real-time ad placement during live sports on Peacock.