Industrywide recalibration
Usage data from Higgsfield, a video generation platform for creators and agencies, shows Sora peaking around its October 2025 launch before steadily declining, according to Taz Patel, Higgsfield’s VP of platform partnerships. By contrast, models like Kling and Nano Banana have gained traction, doubling their share of generations on Higgsfield between November 2025 and January 2026 and continuing to grow.
“Our user base is predominantly professional creators and agencies, and they need consistent quality, controllability, and reliable output for commercial work. Sora found an audience in more casual content which is a valid use case, but not core to the needs of professional creators, studios and production teams,” Patel said.
Ad agencies echo that sentiment.
At Havas, Sora was integrated into the agency’s creative and production toolkit but remained largely unused, Havas’ global chief data and technology officer, Dan Hangen told ADWEEK.
“We found other tools to be better in terms of output. Sora made a splash, but the other video models quickly surpassed them,” Hagen said. Hagen cited quality issues for the lack of uptake. All the tools included in the agency’s production toolkit, Vermeer, need to pass a usage threshold before the agency can indemnify clients’ use of finished assets. “I don’t believe Sora made it to that stage,” Hangen said.
At Code and Theory, the agency’s primary video generation tools are Runway, Google’s Veo suite, and Higgsfield. “People aren’t just looking for AI content. They are looking for compelling content,” Peter Steiner, head of the company’s creative labs told ADWEEK. While Sora showed early promise, Steiner said, rival platforms fit better into the agency’s workflow–Sora’s limited camera control and inability to extend existing shots pushed the team toward tools better suited to their needs including experimenting with Chinese models like Seedance and Qwen.
For Kathleen Barrett, former svp of Vimeo and current CEO of Backlight, that shift reflects a broader industry recalibration.
