More than half of Australian consumers say ads placed alongside low-quality AI content hurt their perception of brands, according to research by global digital media measurement and analytics software platform DoubleVerify.
The study, 2026 Global Insights: Media Quality in the Age of AI, is based on how consumers and marketers view generative AI in advertising, pulled from a global survey of 22,000 consumers and 2,020 marketers.
Across Asia-Pacific, 42% of consumers say they would feel negatively toward a brand after seeing its ads alongside low-quality AI-generated content, compared with 29% who would feel positively.
In Australia, concern is more pronounced. More than half (52%) of consumers say seeing a brand advertised alongside low-quality AI-generated content would negatively affect their perception of that brand, compared with 16% who say it would have a positive impact.
Conrad Tallariti, managing director, APAC, at DoubleVerify, said AI is creating new opportunities for advertisers.
"However, there are new concerns such as the ability to measure the quality of AI chat ads and challenges such as AI slop that is not just a threat to media quality but to brand equity as well,” he said.
The findings suggest consumers are not rejecting the use of AI. Instead, quality is emerging as a dividing line in how they respond to brands using the technology.
Marketers are also weighing AI's opportunities against its potential risks.
Across Asia-Pacific, 61% of marketers are somewhat or very concerned about serving ads alongside low-quality generative AI content, compared with 53% globally.
By comparison, 44% of Asia-Pacific marketers are concerned about serving ads alongside high-quality AI-generated content.
Those concerns extend from where advertising appears to the ads themselves. Nearly half (48%) of Asia-Pacific marketers are concerned about using AI to generate ad copy or creative, in line with the global average.
As AI platforms emerge as a new advertising channel, marketers are approaching the opportunity with caution.
More than half (51%) of Asia-Pacific marketers are concerned about serving ads within AI platforms.
Australian consumers are not universally opposed to advertising in these emerging environments, with 26% feel positively about ads being shown within AI platforms, compared with 33% who feel negatively and 41% who are neutral.
Across Asia-Pacific, sentiment is more positive, with 53% responding positively and 16% negatively.
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