Weekly gen-ai news for film and advertising: image, video and Sound. This week's signals centered on production-ready AI video systems, CTV ad delivery, and low-latency speech workflows. Here are the updates that matter for creative and campaign teams. 1) NVIDIA highlighted gen-ai media workflows at GTC (mar 17, 2026). What happened: NVIDIA's GTC live updates outlined new AI media workflows across color grading, video localization, and production pipelines, with named tooling references including Moonvalley, WPP Open and ElevenLabs integrations. Why it matters for ads and film: This is a practical signal that multimodal AI stacks are converging into real production paths for studio and agency teams, not just isolated model demos. 2) Runway Characters pushed real-time image-to-avatar video agents (mar 9, 2026). What happened: Runway launched Runway Characters, a real-time video agent API that generates conversational avatars from a single image, with control over voice, personality and actions. Why it matters for ads and film: It enables branded characters and campaign spokespeople that can stay visually consistent while interacting live in owned channels and interactive experiences. 3) Runway launched Labs to accelerate next-gen video products (mar 11, 2026). What happened: Runway introduced Runway Labs, an internal incubator dedicated to discovering new product applications for generative video and world models. Why it matters for ads and film: Teams should expect a faster cadence of specialized video tooling for pre-vis, concepting, iterative campaign production and interactive brand formats. 4) Google Ads made VRC non-skips generally available (week of mar 16, 2026). What happened: Google announced global GA for VRC Non-Skip ads in Google Ads and DV360, with AI-driven optimization across 6s, 15s, and 30s CTV non-skippable formats. Why it matters for ads and film: This increases practical distribution options for AI-assisted creative variations, especially where full-message completion and CTV reach are key campaign goals. 5) ElevenLabs shipped Scribe v2 Realtime for live transcription (mar 14, 2026). What happened: ElevenLabs introduced Scribe v2 Realtime, a low-latency speech-to-text model positioned for live agents, meeting assistants and real-time captioning workflows. Why it matters for ads and film: Faster, more accurate live transcription shortens post-production loops for captioning, localization and rapid creative review across distributed teams. Bottom line for creative teams. * Video: avatar-based real-time video and enterprise media workflows are moving from experimentation to deployment. * Image: single-image character generation is becoming an operational format for branded interactive experiences. * Sound: low-latency transcription and voice infrastructure continue to compress turnaround time in campaign production. Vertical Haus can map model shifts to your campaign roadmap, then package testable concepts you can ship fast.

Mito AI raises $4.5M to empower video professionals with AI tools. Mito Films Inc., a collaborative platform bringing the power of artificial intelligence into the hands of video professionals, announced Thursday that it raised $4.5 million led by Paul Murphy at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Other funds such as Kibo, Kfund, Sequoia, a16z scouts, LifeX and notable angel investors, including five unicorn founders and executives at Union Square Ventures, Roblox Corp. and GitHub Inc. Mito distinguishes itself as a suite of AI orchestration tools for video creation and collaboration. The company says it's launching an environment where filmmakers, brands and creative professionals can work together in real time using foundational AI and audio models with professional-grade editing tools with a browser-based canvas. "By automating the tedious parts of production, we give storytellers the freedom to focus on originality, depth, and vision," said Danny Saltaren, co-founder and chief product officer and a national design award recipient. "Mito is built with filmmakers for filmmakers, merging human emotion with cutting-edge AI." Mito provides professionals with a variety of approaches to storytelling for whatever methodology they require for their needs. This might include TV, film, commercial, music video, short, reel, news or storytelling production. The tools also provide easy access to a myriad of different audiovisual models, including their interfaces and tooling that make them accessible. The pricing for different AI models may vary depending on the complexity of the prompts and service costs. Mito offers subscription plans with credits for generations, providing access to collaboration and orchestration tools. Users can work through scenes, building each moment as independent units that can be shaped together, refined and rearranged. Each one is built with image and prompt assets merged together to form a narrative using AI tools. The company uses filmmaking metaphors, saying that the experience is a lot like directing, not merely editing or prompting, providing a depth of experience that can be lost in one-shot and clip-stitching tools. Mito's platform arrives while startups and professional platforms alike bid to attract the attention of creatives. For example, Adobe Inc., a powerful player in the industry, has been building AI capabilities within its audiovisual tools over the past year using the company's Firefly model. Google launched a collaborative AI-powered filmmaking studio interface called Flow last year that integrates the company's Veo 3 video generation model. Startups such as Moonvalley have launched generative AI video models for cinema and advertising alongside collaborative tools for professionals. Image: Mito. A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE: Support its mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE's Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities. * 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more * 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni - Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network. SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation, uniting breakthrough technology, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios - with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange - SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI. Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Its new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.