- The history of the operation: from internal team to autonomous company
- Why is AI video becoming too expensive to manage in-house?
- Winners and losers: who profits from the Dotmo spinoff
- The 2026 Video AI Market: The Numbers Framing the Scene
- A Milanese agency's perspective: what's changing for content creators in Italy
- Implications for content creation and martech strategies
- Next moves: what to watch in the coming months
Snap has announced the spin-off of its internal video AI team. The new entity is called Dotmo. The employees involved are leaving Snapchat to found an independent company focused on AI-powered video generation. The stated motivation is internal cost pressure.
However, the move has broader implications. Dotmo is emerging as an independent business model in a market — the AI video market — that experienced explosive growth in 2025. Therefore, the spinoff is not just a financial restructuring: it's a signal of how major platforms are repositioning their creative technologies towards B2B and martech markets. Consequently, for marketing managers of Italian SMEs and mid-market companies, understanding this dynamic is strategically relevant.
We of SHM Studio We are closely monitoring the evolution of AI tools applied to content and digital marketing. In this article, we analyze the operation's timeline, the winners and losers, and the operational implications for those managing communication and content creation budgets in Italy in 2026.
The Operation's Timeline: From In-House Team to Autonomous Company
On June 18, 2026, TechCrunch reported the official news. Snap has decided to spin off its AI video team into a separate company. The new entity is called Dotmo. The staff involved will formally leave Snapchat to focus exclusively on developing AI-powered video generation technologies.
The official reason is cost pressure. However, this is not the first time Snap has adopted this strategy. The platform has spun off other internal units in the past. Therefore, Dotmo fits into a clear pattern of corporate restructuring aimed at operational efficiency.
Furthermore, the spinoff occurs at a time of strong consolidation in the AI video market. Competitors like Runway, Pika Labs, and OpenAI's Sora have already redefined industry expectations. Consequently, Dotmo is born into an extremely mature competitive landscape.
Why is AI video becoming too expensive to manage in-house
AI-powered video generation requires significant computational infrastructure. State-of-the-art models consume enormous GPU resources. Therefore, keeping them within a social platform—whose core business is the distribution of ephemeral content—creates a structural misalignment between costs and revenues.
Snap has evidently calculated that the value generated by AI video did not justify the internal investment. Conversely, by spinning off the team to a separate company, it frees up its balance sheet and potentially retains a stake or a commercial partnership with Dotmo. This model has already been adopted by other tech players.
Indeed, according to analyses from McKinsey on the AI market, Companies that spin off AI units into separate entities achieve greater go-to-market speed on average. Additionally, they attract vertical investments more easily. Therefore, Snap's move follows established industry logic.
Winners and losers: who profits from the Dotmo spinoff
The first winner is the team itself. The professionals at Dotmo gain operational autonomy, the ability to secure dedicated funding, and a clear mandate. This translates into faster product development.
Paradoxically, Snap is also a winner in the short term. It reduces fixed costs and potentially maintains privileged access to technology through commercial agreements. However, in the long term, it risks losing a strategic asset if Dotmo were to grow and ally with competitors.
Potential losers are the already established video AI platforms. Dotmo is born with Snap's DNA: it understands the logic of vertical content, short format, and mobile-first engagement. Therefore, it could compete directly with Runway or Pika Labs in specific segments. Finally, brands that today depend on a Snap ecosystem for creative production might find themselves needing to renegotiate their integrations.
The video AI market in 2026: the numbers that frame the scene
In 2025, the global market for AI video tools exceeded $4 billion in value. Projections for 2027–2028 indicate sustained growth, with annual growth rates exceeding 30%. These figures are based on an analysis of Gartner on the Generative AI Sector.
In Italy, the adoption of AI tools for content marketing is still in the early majority phase. However, demand for automatically generated videos is growing rapidly, particularly in retail and B2B. As a result, a tool like Dotmo—if targeted at the enterprise or mid-market—could find fertile ground in the Italian market as well.
In addition to this, short-form video continues to dominate engagement metrics across all platforms. Therefore, the ability to produce quality videos scalably and at a low cost represents a real competitive advantage for marketing teams with limited resources.
A Milanese agency's perspective: what's changing for content creators in Italy
Yes SHM Studio, We are observing this operation with analytical interest. Dotmo's spinoff confirms an already evident trend: video content production is becoming an infrastructure, no longer the exclusive domain of agencies or structured creative teams.
For marketing managers at Italian SMEs, this has concrete implications. First, AI video tools will become more accessible and specialized. Dotmo, having emerged from a social-first context, could develop solutions focused on short-form content and personalization. Therefore, it could easily integrate with workflows for digital marketing already existing.
Secondly, the proliferation of specialized players requires marketing teams to have a greater ability to evaluate and select tools. Thus, technological orchestration expertise becomes more critical than creative expertise alone. We at SHM Studio support our clients precisely in this type of strategic choice, through our AI consulting services.
Implications for content creation and martech strategies
The first operational impact concerns the production of content for paid campaigns. Who manages Google Ads campaigns o LinkedIn campaign how critical the availability of quality video assets is. Tools like Dotmo could drastically reduce production time and costs.
However, the quality of AI-generated video remains a variable to monitor. Not all formats and sectors lend themselves equally to automatic generation. In particular, B2B requires a precise tone and brand consistency that current models still struggle to guarantee autonomously.
Therefore, the most effective strategy is not to replace human creative production with AI video, but to integrate it. This also applies to SEO content production, where editorial quality remains a determining ranking factor. Similarly, for websites and landing pages, narrative consistency between copy and video is fundamental. Our team of web development integrate these considerations into the projects we are following.
Next moves: what to watch in the coming months
The first element to monitor is the business model that Dotmo will adopt. If it focuses on a SaaS approach for marketing teams, it could quickly become a relevant tool for the Italian market. Conversely, if it remains focused on complex enterprise integrations, its impact on SMEs will be more limited in the short term.
Furthermore, it will be interesting to see whether Snap maintains a privileged business relationship with Dotmo. This would determine whether the technology remains within the Snapchat ecosystem or becomes available on broader platforms. Therefore, upcoming partnership announcements will provide insight into the company’s strategic direction.
Finally, the spinoff could trigger similar moves in other social players. Meta, TikTok, and YouTube all have in-house video AI teams. If the Dotmo model proves effective, it could become a replicable template. For this reason, those involved in SEO e digital marketing should keep this scenario on its strategic radar.
For in-depth information on how to integrate AI tools into your martech stack, you can consult our blog o Contact the SHM Studio team for a dedicated consultation.
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