Avail, a technology company focused on products for media users, has introduced creatorAPI, a new platform that allows advertisers and creators to license real people's likenesses for use in short-form promotional videos. The company positions the tool as a countermeasure to the rise of AI-generated influencers appearing across platforms like TikTok.
"I am seeing a deluge of fully synthetic creators on my feed, and, you know, to me personally, it's a bit dystopic," said Chris Giliberti, CEO and co-founder of Avail, in a recent interview. "You see these people that aren't real, adverting products, and it used to be the case that this was a form of advertising all about authenticity. That was why you did it, you know? And now, it's like it could not be more opposite."
creatorAPI allows individual creators to set guidelines for how brands can use their likeness, voice and performance — including which products, subjects, claims and creative treatments are allowed or restricted. Within those boundaries, advertisers can produce a range of different videos featuring the same creator.
Giliberti said advertisers running short-form video campaigns are constantly looking to test multiple creative variations to find content that resonates. "You need all these different at-bats to find an asset that really works, that really pops," he said. "What we're doing is we are giving brands the ability to multiply the number of at bats with a single creator."
The launch comes as the creator economy is projected for significant growth. A 2023 estimate from Goldman Sachs projected the creator economy would grow to $480 billion by 2027, up from $250 billion at the time.
creatorAPI was tested in a closed beta with a small group of direct-to-consumer brands and creators before its public launch. It is debuting with Night Media, a digital talent management company, and creator Emily Higgins, who has built a following producing videos about AI. "[It] empowers me to extend the reach of a single campaign and gives brand partners testing flexibility. The appeal is the chance to enhance the performance of my content so both the brand and I win," Higgins said in a statement.
Giliberti, who previously served as a senior executive at podcast company Gimlet Media, said he developed the idea after repeatedly seeing marketers struggle to produce effective commercials. "I just remember feeling like this is so full of friction, the way that this works," he said. "How are we ever going to get this transaction to be as smooth as programmatic advertising?"
Over time, Avail said it expects to build a system allowing creators to negotiate, license, generate and execute ad campaigns increasingly through software — moving toward what Giliberti described as a programmatic marketplace for human creator advertising.
