A Survey of Generative AI: A Game Changer for Free Streaming Services and Ad Personalization with Current Techniques, Identifying Research Gaps and Addressing Challenges

The rapidly evolving digital landscape witnessing a significant shift as the convergence of advanced personalized advertising aligns with free streaming services. As consumer preferences increasingly lean towards on-demand video, streaming providers are challenged with delivering consistent, high-quality content while also devising profitable and non-intrusive monetization strategies. In response to this balancing act, cutting-edge advertising methods that utilize data analytics to tailor the viewing experience have been developed, benefiting both viewers and advertisers. Despite the plethora of surveys exploring Artificial Intelligence's (AI) role across various sectors, there remains a notable gap in comprehensive, in-depth research specifically examining the impact of Generative AI (Gen AI) on free streaming services and personalized advertising. Therefore, this paper focuses on the diverse techniques of Gen AI that drive transformation in free streaming services and Ad personalization. To achieve this, a thorough literature review is conducted on papers from the past decades that explore Gen AI in this context. The Gen AI techniques used for free streaming services and ad personalization are analyzed and categorized. Performance metrics are compiled and listed to enhance the understanding of the processes involved. Additionally, these reviews identify and outline the research gaps in the conventional applications of Gen AI for free streaming services and ad personalization to aid future studies.