This dual reality emerged as the central theme during TVNewsCheck‘s recent “AI and Optimizing Advertising in 2025” webinar moderated by this columnist, where industry leaders from Sinclair,
According to IAB’s 2025 Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy report, 86% of advertisers plan to use AI to create ads, demonstrating unprecedented adoption while creative professionals discover new speed and cost advantages.
Michael Vamosy, founder and chief creative officer at Defiant LA, demonstrated how AI functions as a production accelerator rather than creative replacement. His Detroit Mercy basketball rebranding project employs Midjourney for mood boards and Runway AI for animation, integrating these elements with live-action footage to create “hyper-reality.”
“AI helps you accelerate your ideas faster and further,” Vamosy explained. “We’re using AI to fill in budgetary gaps… extending your time, budget and ability.” However, he emphasized successful AI creative work must remain anchored in authentic human experience. “If it all feels AI, you don’t connect emotionally. You have to find that balance.”
Mary Rogers, SVP of sales and marketing at Futuri, demonstrated how broadcast sales teams leverage AI through SpotOn, which generates video advertisements from business URLs, integrated into Futuri’s TopLine sales intelligence platform. “What advertiser wouldn’t want to see their ideas and company brand name brought to life right in front of them as they discuss creative concepts with their account executive,” Rogers noted, showing examples of AI-generated spots for a restaurant and pool company.
At Sinclair, Mike Palmer described how AI lifts production quality for local advertisers. “We’re making higher-end quality available to local markets,” Palmer explained, noting his team’s effectiveness using Futuri’s tools for presentations and spec spots.
Brian Thoman, CTO of WideOrbit, outlined how AI agents transform traditional workflows, particularly addressing broadcasting’s most dreaded challenge: makegoods. This process of changing schedules when commercials don’t run as scheduled has traditionally consumed countless manual hours and strained both traffic teams and client relationships.
“It’s a big challenge,” Thoman acknowledged about the makegood process. “We need to automate those workflows.” In response, WideOrbit developed AI agents that analyze viewership data, campaign performance and preemptions to automatically suggest recovery strategies. “All the data is already there — viewership, estimates, campaigns,” Thoman said.
The company pioneers AI agents handling complex broadcast workflows, communicating with each other rather than relying on traditional APIs. “Systems are going to be talking through their AI agents,” Thoman said. “Systems integrate faster in that paradigm.”
Palmer emphasized broadcasters’ scale challenges, noting Sinclair implements AI for on-demand promotional content rather than producing thousands of unused promo variations. However, he highlighted critical infrastructure challenges: “A process taking 24-48 hours to get content on air can’t compete with digital’s speed,” he said.
But beneath the AI-powered creative and operations renaissance lurks a more troubling development. Futuri’s “Forensic Analysis on Radio and TV Revenue Loss in 2025” study shows the devastating impact AI-powered media buying tools are already having on broadcast allocations.
Futuri tested over 20,000 AI-generated media mix models across 60 business categories, revealing systematic discrimination against traditional platforms. If 60% of marketers adopt LLM-based planning, broadcast revenue could be cut in half within three years.
“Broadcast is losing ad dollars because it’s not recommended when AI is used to create marketing campaigns,” Daniel Anstandig, CEO of Futuri Media, told TVNewsCheck in July. “AI is making media decisions faster than the media industry can react, and right now, it’s largely deciding that radio and TV don’t exist.”
The core problem lies in data accessibility. Digital platforms flood AI systems with structured, measurable performance data, while broadcast relies on anonymous case studies and vague metrics. “AI can’t see what it can’t measure,” Rogers explained.
Caroline Giegerich, VP of AI at the Interactive Advertising Bureau, highlighted the technical angle of this problem: data standardization. “Digital has cleaner, standardized, near real-time signals. Broadcast is more fragmented and harder for models to ingest,” she said.
IAB research shows 51% currently use Gen AI in digital video ad creation, with 34% planning adoption. Smaller brands lead AI adoption, with 58% of buyers expecting more capabilities from streaming platforms versus linear television.
The panelists outlined specific strategies for fighting broadcast’s algorithmic invisibility, providing a detailed roadmap for action.
Rogers emphasized the urgency of creating AI-discoverable content: “Stations that win will refuse to be invisible,” she said. “They’ll flood the market with proof.”
The solution requires publishing named advertiser success stories with specific metrics, formatted for machine understanding. Futuri’s strategy involves flooding public spaces with measurable broadcast success stories using industry-specific hashtags like #autosales and #cardealermarketing to ensure broadcast campaign results appear in relevant AI training data.
“Feed the AI. Share your advertiser wins and back them with proof,” Rogers urged, recommending that broadcasters post measurable results weekly on platforms where large language models can access them like station websites, LinkedIn, YouTube, PR Newswire, etc.
“Every public case study becomes another example AI systems can find and factor into future plans,” Rogers said.
“These LLMs are trained on data that they can gather from the public, so blogs, posts, things like that,” Thoman added. “There’s not enough data out there about broadcast TV. We have to provide AI with accurate data. It comes down to attribution.”
Palmer stressed adopting standardized processes and accelerating ATSC 3.0 adoption and sunsetting ATSC 1.0, to provide better measurement data that AI systems can process. ATSC 3.0’s real-time broadcast data will be crucial for competing with digital platforms’ measurement capabilities.
Giegerich outlined IAB’s priorities for AI standards including three key focus areas: AI-centric content integrity and trust, GenAI personalization playbooks and the IAB AI Ecosystem Map—a dynamic resource tracking AI use cases across the advertising supply chain.
“Without the right, really clean inputs, consistent inputs, the entire ecosystem will suffer,” she emphasized, echoing the “garbage in, garbage out” principle.
The webinar panel revealed a critical timeline for the broadcast industry: Political campaigns are already piloting AI-only planning tools for 2026 down-ballot races. Without intervention, the 2028 election cycle could see broadcast media systematically excluded from political advertising budgets.
“We have a two-year window to change that, so we need to start today,” Rogers warned, outlining specific actions broadcasters must take immediately.
The media industry faces a choice: Adapt to AI-driven decision-making or risk systematic exclusion from future advertising budgets. Success will require simultaneous action on multiple fronts:
As Palmer concluded: “Don’t wait until everything you need is available before you move, because then you’ll be too late.”
With $26 billion in broadcast advertising revenue at stake, the industry cannot afford remaining invisible to algorithms increasingly determining where advertising dollars flow. These leaders aren’t just implementing AI, they’re architecting advertising’s future while preserving broadcast media’s unique value. The main takeaway from the webinar was this: Adapt strategically, act immediately and never stop fighting for broadcast visibility in an increasingly algorithmically dominated future.
The post How AI Is Rewriting Broadcast Advertising Rules appeared first on TV News Check.
Microsoft seems more determined than ever to combine Xbox and Windows - to the point…
Microsoft has revealed early features of Project Helix, its next-gen Xbox, while confirming plans to…
If you're planning out a PC build and have been hoping to get ahold of…
Microsoft has disclosed a critical security vulnerability in Microsoft Office that could allow attackers to…
In an alarming new campaign, threat actors are targeting human resources (HR) departments with a…
A recent targeted cyberattack is leveraging the trusted Red Alert rocket warning app to infect…
This website uses cookies.