AI ads go truly mainstream at the NBA Finals, but is it entertainment?
A new AI advert, made on a budget of just $2,000, has gone mainstream at the NBA Finals, with twenty million viewers. But does it work as a standalone offering?
Admittedly, this is something of a groundbreaking moment for advertising.
The first fully AI-generated commercial aired during Game 3 of the 2025 NBA Finals on June 11, catching the attention of millions with its surreal visuals and sparking industry-wide debate about the future of creative production.
Created for Kalshi, a prediction market platform, the 30-second spot was produced in just two days for a mere $2,000, slashing traditional production costs by 95% and signalling a seismic shift in how brands approach high-profile campaigns.
The ad, aired during the YouTube TV broadcast of the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers matchup, featured a chaotic montage of AI-generated characters, including a shirtless elderly man draped in an American flag, a farmer floating in a pool of eggs, an alien chugging beer, and a woman in a sparkly pink tracksuit driving a Zamboni.
With the tagline “The world’s gone mad, trade it”, the commercial highlighted Kalshi’s platform, where users can place bets on events ranging from NBA outcomes to egg prices and hurricane forecasts.
AI end to end
Directed by self-described “AI filmmaker” PJ Accetturo, the ad was created using Google’s Veo 3 text-to-video generator, with scripting assistance from Gemini and ChatGPT. Accetturo, a 15-year veteran director, crafted a rough script inspired by the frenetic energy of Grand Theft Auto VI, generating 300–400 video clips to select the final 15 for the spot.
The process, which took 48–72 hours, involved writing a script, generating detailed prompts with Gemini, producing clips in Veo 3, and editing in CapCut and Adobe Premiere Pro. “Just because this was cheap doesn’t mean anyone can do it,” Accetturo said on X, emphasising that creative expertise remains critical.
The ad’s approval by Disney-owned ABC for the YouTube TV stream raised eyebrows, given Disney’s family-friendly standards and the ad’s gambling focus. This might be a sign that traditional media gatekeepers are warming to AI-generated content, though the ad’s limited run on YouTube TV rather than cable, suggests cautious adoption.
Our take
It’s actually hard to provide a take on this, knowing it is AI, because the medium dominates the message.
The look and feel of the ad is impressive, but only because you know it’s been fully rendered. The tech has gotten to a point where the amusing tropes of AI (the LSD-like blurriness, the extra digits on hands, etc) are a thing of the past.
The low-cost production is certainly an eyebrow raiser here, but once a plethora of these types of ads get made, then I feel the novelty will wear off.
Making effective messaging will, I think, involve AI more and more, but when it comes to acting and human connection, we’re still a way off. For that reason, even viewer feedback, at this point, won’t be particularly useful as a method of informing future utility of AI. The ad works in the context of ‘now’, but how fleeting that moment is remains to be seen.
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