Google Veo 3.1 tops AI video rankings as OpenAI exits Sora

Sora's shutdown removes OpenAI from the AI video generation race entirely, leaving Google, Runway, and Chinese players like Kuaishou and ByteDance to absorb its former user base. The rankings reveal a market that has fragmented by use case — cinematic generation, avatar-based business video, and short-form social content each demand different tools, with no single model dominating all three. For streaming and content teams evaluating AI video, the practical signal to watch is whether Google's Veo maintains its native audio lead as Runway and Kling add sound capabilities in upcoming releases.

OpenAI's decision to discontinue Sora came amid mounting financial pressure. Bloomberg reported on March 24, 2026 that the Disney partnership — originally announced as a three-year licensing deal — included a planned $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, structured entirely in stock warrants rather than cash. Disney told the BBC on March 25, 2026 that it would "engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are" and responsibly embrace new technologies. Sora generated just $1.4 million in global net in-app revenue since launch, compared to $1.9 billion for ChatGPT over the same period, according to Sensor Tower data cited by the BBC. Forrester analyst Thomas Husson called the platform "a resource black hole with limited monetisation."

The broader AI video market is growing rapidly despite Sora's exit. Fortune Business Insights projects the global AI video generator market at $847 million in 2026, growing at an 18.8% CAGR toward $3.35 billion by 2034. Grand View Research puts the 2026 figure higher at $946 million. Per Wyzowl's 2026 State of Video Marketing survey, 63% of video marketers now use AI tools to create or edit video, up from 51% a year earlier — the sharpest single-year jump in the survey's 12-year history.

Competition among surviving platforms is intensifying. Runway closed a $315 million Series E at a $5.3 billion valuation in February 2026, per TechCrunch and Crunchbase. Kling AI, developed by Kuaishou, reported 22 million users and a $240 million annualized revenue run rate as of December 2025. The Verge reported on March 28, 2026 that Sora's downloads had fallen from 4.8 million in October 2025 to 1.1 million month-to-date in March, declining even as OpenAI expanded into new geographic markets — a signal that the model had lost its competitive edge well before the shutdown was announced.