TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi Claims Most Short Videos Are AI-Generated
TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi stated that the majority of short videos are now produced by AI, using models like Seedance. He also mentioned that the cost of producing video ads has dropped from $100 to $1,000 to between $1 and $10.
Zhou pointed out that brands used to hire teams or production companies to create a video ad, which would still incur costs in the hundreds to thousands of dollars even if done internally. Now, by providing product images and reference videos to ByteDance's Seedance model, ads can be automatically generated, reducing costs by one to two orders of magnitude, approximately to $1 to $10.
He noted that the short video industry, which first emerged in China, is now expanding globally. Currently, the vast majority of works in this industry are produced using Seedance and other models. He emphasized that human creativity remains central, but AI enhances video generation. Zhou also mentioned that TikTok can deploy 1,000 AI agents at night to test different user experiences, replacing the previous manual trust and safety testing.
Seedance is ByteDance's AI video generation model that supports multiple angles and synchronized audio. The production cycle for short videos has been compressed from several months to a few weeks, with significant cost reductions per minute. On the advertising side, brands can generate materials without traditional production teams. The proportion of AI-generated short video content on TikTok is increasing, lowering the barriers for ad material generation.
Funding is shifting from traditional production teams and companies to AI model usage and platform distribution. Brands can test more ad variants at lower costs. Short video producers are reducing content production costs through models, while customer acquisition expenses still account for a major portion of revenue. Traditional actors, costumes, props, and production companies are under pressure in the short video and advertising segments.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Zhou Shouzi directly associates the current state of the short video industry with the Seedance model in public. ByteDance provides video generation capabilities through Seedance, supporting product image and reference video inputs. The company is also expanding AI agents on TikTok for experience testing. After starting in China, short videos are expanding into global markets.
The company is shifting video generation from team shooting and post-production to model input and output. Resources are flowing from human labor and production companies to model usage fees and platform distribution. The decrease in advertising material costs allows brands to increase testing frequency. While the supply of short video content is increasing, customer acquisition costs still account for 70% to 90% of revenue.
Similar AI video models have been used on other platforms for content generation. Currently, short videos and video ads are in a phase of significantly reduced production costs and rapidly increasing supply.
This essentially represents a technological substitution. AI models are replacing parts of traditional production processes in video generation. The mechanism involves using product images and reference videos as inputs to directly output distributable materials, reducing the cost of producing a single ad or short video from hundreds to thousands of dollars down to the $1 to $10 range, while shifting human labor from shooting and post-production to creative direction and distribution optimization.
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As production costs decrease by 10 to 100 times, the speed of content supply accelerates.
Model usage fees replace team salaries, becoming the main expenditure in video production.
The barriers for short videos and ads are lowered, but customer acquisition expenses still determine final revenue.