AMC partners with Runway for AI marketing visuals
AMC Networks, home to television staples like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, is entering the generative AI arena with a new partnership that could reshape its content pipeline—at least behind the scenes. The company has signed a deal with Runway, a prominent player in the generative AI space, to produce marketing imagery and pre-visualization content for upcoming projects. The move positions AMC as the first cable company to strike such a deal with Runway, signaling a cautious but deliberate shift toward AI-assisted production tools.
The collaboration allows AMC’s marketing teams and pre-visualization artists to generate promotional images and conceptual previews before a single frame of footage is captured. This could reduce costs tied to traditional photoshoots and design processes while still allowing showrunners and marketing professionals to prototype visuals quickly and efficiently.
Other entertainment firms, including Lionsgate and Harmony Korine’s EDGELRD, have also explored similar partnerships with Runway, while various studios are reportedly experimenting with AI tools from multiple companies. However, AMC’s engagement stands out as the first for a cable network, underscoring the growing interest across tiers of the industry.
Financially, the timing of the move is notable. AMC recently reported a sharp drop in profits, down nearly 50% to $63 million. The AI initiative appears aimed at stemming these losses by cutting operational costs—particularly in the labor-intensive areas of marketing and pre-production—without sacrificing quality.
Despite this shift, AMC currently has no plans to incorporate AI-generated imagery into the actual shows themselves. For now, the focus is squarely on using AI to support internal development and external promotion—tools that can help visualize concepts, test creative ideas, and produce materials that support a show's release without incurring the cost of full-scale photoshoots.
Yet the deal is not without controversy. Runway has been criticized for training its AI on large troves of online videos, including pirated content, without permission. While Lionsgate has reportedly allowed its own catalog to be used for such training, it's unclear whether AMC has made a similar agreement. That uncertainty could raise questions about how ethically grounded these new tools are—and whether their long-term use will attract legal scrutiny.
As the entertainment industry continues to explore the balance between cost-saving innovation and creative integrity, AMC's partnership with Runway serves as a test case for how AI might be deployed at scale in non-creative (but still crucial) corners of production. For now, AMC is betting that smart implementation of generative AI can give it a competitive edge—one generated frame at a time.
