Self-serve CTV ad platform Vibe.co offers small and midsize businesses (SMBs) the opportunity to create and run their own ads on streaming services.
Now the startup has its sights set on alleviating another pain point for SMBs by developing AI features that don’t take a computer science degree to navigate.
After all, the average SMB owner doesn’t have time to “prompt and re-prompt and iterate” in ChatGPT, Vibe.co CEO Arthur Querou told AdExchanger.
On Tuesday, Vibe.co announced its new suite of four different AI-powered features – including one, Vibe Studio, which can instantly generate video ads based on a business’s Google Maps page.
The return of local TV ads
When a user enters the name of a business available in Google Maps, Vibe Studio, which is free to use, pulls in information and assets related to the business, including its phone number, logo, website URL, promotional photos and even customer reviews.
Less than a minute later, the tool produces a 30-second ad spot consisting of an image slideshow, contextually relevant background music, AI-generated voice-over narration and a QR code. Users can download the video as is or edit each component directly on the Vibe Studio page.
The idea behind Vibe Studio is to prove to small business owners that making ads doesn’t require a “massive creative team” to execute, Querou said.
“Some of our clients just shoot their ads on their iPhone, and that’s more than good enough,” he said. “People like genuine people, and highly crafted ads can very often feel non-genuine.”
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After the ad spot is ready to go comes the real challenge: getting it onto CTV platforms.
On Google Ads, a professional plumber, for instance, can easily target people who are searching for plumbing-related terms in their local area, said Querou. But “when it comes to TV, it’s a bit different [and] a bit hard to understand,” he said. “Like, ‘OK, what channel should I target? Which audiences?’”
To help SMB owners overcome this potential choice paralysis, the new Vibe AI Assistant feature makes specific recommendations on relevant keywords, customer personas, channels and delivery time slots, all based on a client’s stated campaign goals and ad budget.
From there, Vibe.co’s newly rebuilt performance engine, Vibe IQ2, can make real-time bidding decisions based on which impressions it determines will deliver the strongest performance.
According to Querou, cost per conversion has dropped significantly with IQ2 compared to the previous version of the tool. A client that might have spent $80 per conversion, for example, would now be spending between $15 and $20.
Finally, there’s Vibe Connect, a publisher platform that allows broadcasters and streaming services to make their CTV inventory available to SMBs who use Vibe’s platform to create ads.
Along with Vibe Studio, these features are intended to be “real life use cases of AI,” according to Querou – in contrast to so-called innovative technology that’s primarily implemented “just to please VCs.”
“It’s not chat-based or anything like that,” added Querou. “It’s really embedded into the product, and it’s something that’s actually usable.”
An easier-to-use CTV platform could also incentivize small businesses to get more creative with their ads – and perhaps even set the stage for a new generation of those iconically weird local TV spots everyone remembers from their childhood.
Querou seems down for that. “Be creative, have fun and please bring back the wacky commercials,” he advised.
