Wistia’s recent marketing campaign featured a wizard. The content team shot a real actor on a real set. He had the robe, the staff, the whole nine yards. When they showed the video to a live audience, they asked everyone to spot the one part that was AI. The majority guessed the character. Some guessed the set. A few guessed the background.
Nobody guessed the pants.
Now, Wistia hadn’t planned to use AI. But when it came time to cut vertical versions for social media, they realized the wizard had only been filmed from the waist up. Which meant one thing. No legs? No vertical video. So instead of reshooting, they used AI.
When most people hear “AI video,” their minds go straight to fully generated content, a la the bunnies jumping on the trampoline (no doubt you’ve seen this viral sensation on your feed). But for most teams, AI in video marketing isn’t all-or-nothing.
On a recent episode of “Marketing, Demystified The Podcast,” host Jenn Mancusi sat down with Sam Balter, Head of Content at Wistia, to talk about how teams are using AI throughout the video marketing process, based on findings from Wistia’s AI Video Marketing Trends report, created from a survey of over 500 marketers.
It turns out AI is showing up at every stage, from brainstorm to distribution. And the results speak for themselves. Teams using AI in their video workflows are saving time, seeing higher viewer engagement, and in Wistia’s own data, getting 5x more plays than those who aren’t.
Here’s what that looks like in practice.
Using AI for audience research
Most teams want to jump straight to the fun part. They want to throw around concepts, brainstorm script ideas, put their creative juices to good use. But there’s a vital step that comes before all of that fun stuff, and AI is making it much easier to execute.
Forty-two percent of marketers are using AI for audience research and trend analysis. It’s one of the most popular applications in the entire process, and one of the most overlooked entry points for teams who haven’t started using AI in their video marketing workflow yet.
ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are the go-to tools here. Use them to research your audience and surface trending topics in your space.
Using AI in marketing video planning
The biggest challenge marketing teams face isn’t the long days on set or getting the edit right.
According to Wistia’s report, 33% of marketers say generating new concepts is their top challenge in the video production process. And AI is already solving it, with 51% of marketers using it for ideation, and another 51% for scripting.
The key is how you use it. When you open your platform of choice (according to the survey, ChatGPT and Gemini are the best AI tools for video), don’t open a blank chat and ask for a video idea. Give AI something to work with, like a transcript or a blog post.
One of Sam’s most practical tips is to tell the AI exactly how long the video needs to be. Ask for a 60-second script, and you’ll get one you can edit. Ask for “a short video script,” and you’ll spend an hour cutting it down.
Using AI in pre-production
Getting it wrong on set is expensive. Getting it wrong in pre-production is just a revision. That’s why storyboarding has always been a standard part of the process. The catch is that doing it well takes real time and skill. We’re talking hand-drawn frames, detailed shot lists, multiple rounds of revisions just to get everyone aligned.
For a one-person marketing team moving at a hundred miles an hour, it’s often the first thing to get skipped.
AI has changed what’s possible in video marketing pre-production. Tools like Runway, Midjourney, or Adobe Firefly can generate scene-by-scene visuals of how a video could look before you’ve booked a single crew member.
“When you are paying money to have camera crews and actors and a set, you feel a lot more confident going into that shoot when you have actual images that people can look at,” Sam says.
You can explore different locations, characters, and styles without being locked into anything. According to Wistia’s report, 38% of marketers are already using AI this way.
Using AI in video production
This is where AI usage drops off.
AI tools do exist for the production stage. Synthesia and Dream Machine can generate video content, and some teams are using AI for synthetic backgrounds and avatar generation. Sora was in this mix too (until OpenAI pulled the plug).
But when Wistia asked marketers what they’re least comfortable with, AI avatars and AI-generated narration topped the list.
Meaning, for now at least, what happens in front of the camera stays human.
Using AI in post-production and for video repurposing
If you’re only going to use AI in one part of your video process, make it post-production. It’s at this stage of the process where the smallest changes have the biggest impact on performance.
Captions are the most underrated use of AI in video marketing, especially for B2B video.
“So many people are watching B2B videos on mute,” Jenn says. “So, having branded, styled captions that call out the most exciting moments significantly increases engagement.”
The data backs this up. According to the report, 85% of marketers say videos with visible AI components like AI-generated captions outperform traditional videos.
Another place AI shines in the post-production process is audio cleanup, which used to involve pricey software and a steep learning curve. Now it’s done in the click of a button. The dog barking, the AC humming, the truck rolling past your window mid-sentence? All gone.
And it matters more than you’d think. People will watch grainy, low-res video online without a second thought. Poor audio is where they tap out.
Lastly, 37% of marketers say the biggest impact of AI is a faster turnaround time for producing multiple versions of the same video. With AI video repurposing tools like Capsule, you can instantly cut clips for social in a variety of sizes (horizontal, vertical, you name it) without starting from scratch every time.
Distributing marketing videos with AI
Getting a video made is a feat in itself. But the work doesn’t stop there. You still have to get it in front of the right people, in the right format, on the right channel, and for a lot of teams, that’s where things slow down.
About a third of marketers are now using AI in their video marketing distribution strategy, and the applications are more varied than most people realize. AI-generated titles, descriptions, and metadata for SEO is the most common starting point. Thumbnails are another, with tools like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Midjourney generating and testing options faster than any manual process.
But the distribution opportunity most teams haven’t taken advantage of is translation and dubbing. Wistia’s AI dubbing feature clones the speaker’s real voice, translates the content, and syncs the lip movements in a different language. This means your content can now reach a global audience. No plane ticket needed.
Where to start with AI in your video production workflow
AI video trends are moving fast, but the teams seeing real results aren’t chasing every new tool on the market.
Map your video production workflow first. Identify where your biggest bottlenecks live. Is it ideation? Editing speed? Getting video content repurposed for social? Find the one thing that’s slowing your video marketing efforts down the most, then find an AI tool that solves it.
Remember, you don’t need to make the next bunnies on a trampoline. Just find your starting point. Once you get going, there are 5x as many plays waiting on the other side.
Want to put this into practice? At Growgetter, video is one part of how we help businesses like yours build marketing engines that actually drive revenue. Learn more about what we do.