XR Extreme Reach’s latest State of Ad Ops AI findings say 88% of U.S. marketers on the agency and brand sides of advertising are actively using or piloting AI during creative production. XR says nearly half of that group uses AI daily.
Across six published U.S. workflow use cases, VFX and compositing leads at 45% and ad versioning and adaptation is lowest at 38%. That seven-percentage-point spread suggests AI use is distributed across production rather than dominated by one task.
For B2B teams, the useful story is not that “everyone uses AI.” It is that AI has entered several production steps while the research leaves deployment depth, business outcomes and human control only partly measured. Our read: this is evidence of operational penetration, not evidence of ROI.
Direct answer – how widely is AI used in advertising creative production in 2026?
XR reports that 88% of U.S. agency- and brand-side marketers are actively using or piloting AI during creative production, compared with 83% of U.K. marketers. The adoption gap is five percentage points. XR describes the wider State of Ad Ops research as surveying more than 400 marketers across the two markets, but its accessible public materials do not disclose the exact country-level sample bases.
Key Takeaways
- 88% of U.S. agency- and brand-side marketers are actively using or piloting AI during creative production, according to XR.
- 83% of U.K. marketers are using or piloting AI, five percentage points below the reported U.S. figure.
- U.S. use cases range from 45% for VFX and compositing to 38% for ad versioning and adaptation.
- Full-service agency daily use is 62% in the U.S. and 43% in the U.K., a 19-point gap.
- The survey establishes adoption, not ROI, quality improvement, efficiency gains or job replacement.
What XR’s 88% Figure Actually Measures
XR says it partnered with MX8 Labs and surveyed more than 400 marketers across brands, agencies, production companies and media agencies in the U.S. and U.K. The Measure reports that fieldwork took place in May 2026 and lists full-service agencies, media agencies, boutiques, creative production agencies and national brands among participants.
The 88% needs a narrower label than “all advertisers.” XR’s release says it refers to agency- and brand-side marketers who are actively using or piloting AI during creative production. It does not mean 88% have fully deployed AI across their organizations, and the exact base behind the percentage is not disclosed.
| AI adoption state | U.S. | U.K. | Difference | Population note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actively using or piloting AI | 88% | 83% | +5 pp U.S. | U.S.: agency/brand side. U.K.: marketers. |
| Daily AI use, overall published wording | Nearly half | 41% | Not exactly calculable | U.S. source gives no exact percentage. |
| Full-service agency daily use | 62% | 43% | +19 pp U.S. | Full-service agency respondents; exact bases undisclosed. |
IVRIS calculation from XR’s State of Ad Ops dataset: 88% – 83% = 5 percentage points. For full-service agencies, 62% – 43% = 19 percentage points for daily use. shots’ report on XR’s U.K. findings also puts overall U.K. daily use at 41% and says 3% have no plans to adopt AI.
Where AI Has Entered the Creative Workflow
XR’s U.S. release lists six leading use cases. The accessible material does not disclose the exact response base or explicitly say whether respondents could select multiple tasks, so the percentages should be read as reported task-level usage, not shares that must add to 100%.
| Creative task | U.S. usage | IVRIS tier |
|---|---|---|
| VFX and compositing | 45% | Highest cluster |
| Performance analysis and creative testing | 44% | Highest cluster |
| Image creation | 44% | Highest cluster |
| Video and motion generation | 42% | Middle cluster |
| Scripting and copywriting | 41% | Middle cluster |
| Ad versioning and adaptation | 38% | Lower listed use case |
IVRIS calculation from XR’s State of Ad Ops dataset: 45% – 38% = 7 percentage points. Five of the six listed categories involve making, finishing or adapting creative assets; performance analysis and creative testing is the analytical exception. That is an IVRIS classification of XR’s categories, not a survey-defined production-versus-strategy score.
The U.K. subgroup data is directionally useful but not directly comparable. Among U.K. brand teams, shots reports image creation at 50%, copywriting at 39% and campaign briefing at 36%. Those figures use a narrower brand-team denominator than the published U.S. task list.
Human Control Is Visible in the Boundaries, Not a Survey Score
XR says many brands and agencies are drawing lines between output and originality, using AI for production work while keeping larger creative ideas in human hands. That is management interpretation around the findings, not a quantified measure of human control.
In our earlier reporting on IAB’s 2026 GenAI video-ad data, rising adoption came with demand for human review, audit trails and provenance. XR broadens the production picture across VFX, testing, images, motion, copy and adaptation, but it does not provide a comparable percentage for strategic ownership, final approval or originality. It also does not show that more AI use produces better ads.
What the Survey Does Not Prove
XR’s accessible public materials do not disclose respondent seniority, individual role titles, recruitment method, weighting, the verbatim AI-adoption question, formal definitions of “using or piloting” or “daily,” exact U.S./U.K. sample counts, or whether workflow use allowed multiple selections.
- No ROI claim: adoption frequency is not revenue lift, incremental profit or media efficiency.
- No quality claim: AI use for VFX, images or testing does not establish better-performing creative.
- No job-replacement claim: workflow use is not evidence of causal employment effects.
- No global estimate: the research covers U.S. and U.K. respondents, not the whole advertising market.
Frequently Asked Questions
XR reports that 88% of U.S. marketers on the agency and brand sides of advertising are actively using or piloting AI during creative production. The wording matters: the figure combines active use with pilots, and XR’s accessible release does not disclose the exact respondent base behind the 88%.
XR’s U.K. findings report that 83% of marketers are actively using or piloting AI in production. The same coverage reports 41% using AI daily and 3% with no plans to adopt it. The exact U.K. respondent base is not disclosed in the accessible materials.
In XR’s published U.S. figures, VFX and compositing leads at 45%. Performance analysis and creative testing and image creation are both at 44%, followed by video and motion generation at 42%, scripting and copywriting at 41%, and ad versioning and adaptation at 38%.
No. XR’s 88% figure explicitly combines marketers who are actively using AI with those piloting it during creative production. It should not be rewritten as full deployment. The study also does not establish ROI, better creative quality, efficiency gains, job replacement or universal adoption across the global advertising market.
