Only 25% of marketers use AI for influencer marketing, and 82% do not use AI for connected TV (CTV) campaigns, according to a Glossy+ Research survey of more than 100 marketing professionals in the first quarter of 2026. The numbers stand in stark contrast to social media (49%) and retail media (42%) AI adoption, and they reflect persistent concerns about authenticity, creative control, and infrastructure.
Influencer marketing faces authenticity barriers
The survey, part of a broader look at AI for Marketing trends, found that among the 25% of marketers using AI for influencer work, 75% use it for data analysis, 63% for content creation, and 56% for influencer outreach. Reluctance to adopt AI more widely stems from consumer demand for authenticity. A 2025 World Federation of Advertisers study reported that 96% of brands with no plans to work with virtual influencers cite consumer trust issues. Virtual influencers are fully AI-generated avatars, unlike human creators, and brands worry audiences will reject them.
Skin care brand Beekman 1802 partnered with AI analytics firm Bezel to analyze first-party data. "We were able to throw all of our data at a large language model and really understand deeply who this consumer is and how many subtypes of consumer we have," David Baker, Beekman 1802's chief digital officer, said at a 2025 event. Independent influencer agency Later uses an AI system to match campaign briefs with human creators and model content performance. "That's a much richer picture that gives me confidence that I'm going to get a high ROAS on my campaign," Later CEO Scott Sutton told Digiday in March.
Sutton added that the shift reflects market realities. "More and more brands want to work with more creators," he said. "The mechanics of operating creative programs in a highly effective way require you to use more influencers - generally, smaller to mid size influencers - in a more targeted way." Influencers themselves are also adopting AI. A Wondercraft report says 80% of creators use AI in their workflow. Creator app POP.STORE recently launched AI ECHO ME, an agentic commerce platform that sorts through DMs and emails to identify revenue opportunities. "Creators are basically chickens with their heads cut off running around all day long, and within that craziness, trying to come up with creative ideas and shoot great content and always worried that they may get lost in the algorithm," said CEO Gautam Goswami, adding that creators told him "80% of DMs go unanswered."
CTV adoption lags despite growing addressability
For CTV, 82% of marketers said they are not using AI in their streaming campaigns. Among the 18% who do, 69% use AI for data analysis, and 54% use it for content creation and ad placement, respectively. "AI adoption in CTV has historically lagged because TV was built on a broadcast mindset, whereas social media was built on data," said Brian Albert, YouTube's managing director of U.S. video deals and creative works.
Harry Browne, vp of TV, audio and display innovation at Tinuiti, said AI is "starting to creep into the CTV space" in areas like audience targeting and contextual targeting. Amazon's Complete TV tool offers AI-powered recommendations for spending across Prime Video and other premium streaming publishers, while its AI Creative Studio and Audio Generator let advertisers design creative. Roku's Ads Manager, used mostly by smaller DTC or local brands, also partners with AI companies on creative production. "Before, entrance into TV was prohibitive because brands needed either to be in the upfront or to have a fully produced TV creative. So, that's helped democratize access to advertising on CTV," said Sarah Harms, Roku's vp of ad marketing and measurement. "On the other hand, there's a lot of bad AI content out there, and we haven't really seen that infiltrate CTV like it has in the social platforms… We just have great control over it for now."
Structural barriers remain. Cory Treffiletti, chief marketing officer of AI-driven ad tech company Rembrand, said that for interruptive ad formats, "the barriers are structural and include fragmented identity resolution and siloed measurement." In April 2026, researchers including several Netflix employees debuted VOID, an AI tool that removes objects from video clips and alters scenes. But Browne expects slow uptake. "CTV is the type of creative that advertisers are most precious about. They have the most pride in what they put on the biggest screen in the house," he said. "There is hesitancy to turn that over to an AI creative technology, where if something looks a little bit off, it could make the whole creative fall apart."
Why this matters for marketers
AI tools for influencer marketing are already handling data analysis and creator discovery, but brands must balance efficiency gains with the authentic human connection audiences expect. In CTV, AI-powered targeting and creative tools are emerging, yet the industry's high production standards and fragmented infrastructure mean adoption will be gradual. Marketers who experiment now with AI for campaign measurement and audience intelligence-while keeping a human eye on creative quality-can build a competitive edge as the technology matures.
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