Generative AI video startup Vidu, from ShengShu Technology, just rolled out a major upgrade to its Model-as-a-Service (MaaS) API, putting avatar-driven campaigns squarely in the hands of e-commerce and advertising teams. If TikTok rewired how brands think about short-form video, Vidu wants to be the production studio powering the next wave—only without the cost or time of traditional shoots.

The update leans into a fast-rising trend: the fusion of virtual idols, avatars, and commerce. From Japan’s Hatsune Miku to K-pop-inspired PLAVE, virtual performers aren’t just entertainment—they’re a marketing playbook. Vidu’s new capabilities aim to give retailers, advertisers, and even travel brands the same storytelling firepower.

What’s New in the Vidu MaaS Upgrade

Lip Sync API

• Natural lip-sync from text, audio, or video.

• 324 preset voices, 60+ languages, 4K output, up to 600 seconds.

• Controls for rate, style, and volume.

Creative Templates

• “Virtual Singer” template for 8–15 second clips.

• Generate stylized lip-synced videos from a single image in under four minutes.

MCP Integration

• Supports Model Context Protocol (MCP) apps like Claude and Cursor.

• API can now auto-pick between text-to-video, image-to-video, or template workflows.

It’s a practical push to remove friction. Instead of developers needing to string together different APIs, Vidu’s engine decides how to best process the request.

Video is already the king of e-commerce marketing, but localization and speed have long been pain points. A campaign that works in Brazil may not resonate in Korea—or even in a different region of the U.S. Vidu’s bet is that avatar-driven templates and multilingual lip sync let brands churn out culturally tuned content faster than human-led production cycles.

ShengShu CEO Yihang Luo framed it bluntly: “E-commerce moves at the speed of culture.” Vidu’s pitch is that avatars are becoming part of that culture—and unlike human influencers, they scale infinitely without burnout or PR scandals.

Vidu isn’t alone here. Synthesia has raised serious capital for its AI presenter tools, while Runway and Pika Labs chase the text-to-video frontier. But Vidu is leaning on commerce-first positioning, weaving avatars into sales and advertising pipelines rather than just generic video creation. That’s a notable angle—especially as Amazon, TikTok Shop, and Shein prove that speed plus spectacle drives conversions.

The numbers suggest demand is already here. Vidu hit 1 million users in its first month, then 10 million by month three. As of today, it’s surpassed 300 million total generated videos. For perspective, that’s more than the total video uploads on some mid-tier social platforms.

Meanwhile, its technical roadmap is filling in gaps beyond avatars: multi-entity “reference-to-video” consistency, cinematic first-to-last frame transitions, and even HD audio generation. These are features aimed not just at marketers, but also entertainment, gaming, and training industries where fidelity matters.

Generative AI video tools are flooding the market, but few are as laser-focused on commerce and advertising as Vidu. The new MaaS API update makes avatars, lip sync, and MCP-backed automation not just accessible—but production-ready.

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