Study Finds Consumers Reject AI-Generated Branded Content

Digital asset management firm PhotoShelter has released research indicating a significant misalignment between marketing strategies and consumer engagement. While 85% of surveyed marketing professionals use AI in video production, consumers report that an 'AI-generated' appearance is the primary reason they scroll past content.

The findings show that branded product content accounts for only 17% of the videos consumers actually engage with, despite companies increasing their output to match rising consumption levels. Nearly all respondents (92%) stated they skip branded or sponsored content at least some of the time, often making a decision to stay or swipe within the first five seconds.

Data suggests marketers are misallocating their budgets by focusing on Instagram, while consumers spend the majority of their viewing time on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Furthermore, 56% of consumers explicitly stated that knowing AI was used would decrease their trust in a brand, directly contradicting the marketing industry's current reliance on the technology.

PhotoShelter CMO Christina Kyriazi noted that the focus should shift toward authenticity. She argued that AI's role should be relegated to backend tasks like asset tagging and organization, allowing human creators to produce the genuine, behind-the-scenes content that audiences are more likely to connect with.