XR report finds speed is driving AI adoption among UK advertisers
The UK State of Ad Ops research shows 83% are using or piloting AI, with speed to market ahead of output and cost reduction.
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AI has moved firmly beyond experimentation in UK advertising, with more than eight in ten marketers (83%) now actively using or piloting AI in production, according to new research from XR.
The findings suggest AI is becoming embedded across advertising and creative operations as brands and agencies respond to growing demand for content.
Above: XR’s UK State of Ad Ops research found that 83% of UK marketers are actively using or piloting AI.
XR's latest UK State of Ad Ops report found that 41% of advertising professionals now use AI daily, and just 3% have no plans to adopt it at all.
Rather than replacing creative directors and teams, AI is increasingly being used to help them produce more content, bring campaigns to market faster and support creative workflows at scale.
The research shows marketers' priorities for AI are evolving. Speed to market (36%) has overtaken cost savings as the top driver of adoption, closely followed by increasing the volume of creative assets produced (35%).
Above: The report found that 41% of UK advertising professionals use AI daily, while 3% have no plans to adopt it.
Reducing production costs ranks third (32%), suggesting advertisers increasingly see AI as a way to keep pace with rising creative demand for cross-platform campaigns rather than simply reducing spend.
The study also highlights how AI is being adopted differently depending on where teams sit in the production process.
Brand teams are using it earlier in the process, in pre-production and ideation, primarily to support image creation (50%), copywriting (39%) and campaign briefing (36%).
Full-service agencies have integrated AI more deeply across the full production workflow, with 43% reporting daily use as standard practice.
Above: Speed to market leads UK marketers’ AI priorities at 36%, ahead of volume at 35% and cost at 32%.
Daniel Mark, President of Global Markets, XR Extreme Reach, says: "AI isn't just a creative cost reduction tool for advertising agency and production teams, it's how they are keeping up with the insatiable demand for more content. The teams getting the most out of AI aren't the ones automating fastest. They're the ones who are weaving AI into the fabric of their whole production and delivery processes, so it becomes an essential ingredient to getting the work done faster and more efficiently."
The findings also reveal subtle differences between the UK and US. While AI adoption is high in both markets, UK advertisers are focused on speed and output, primarily using AI to improve speed to market and increase creative volume. US respondents place greater emphasis on improving quality and personalisation.
Together, the findings suggest AI is becoming core advertising infrastructure, with organisations shaping its use around their own operational priorities.
