Sora vs Veo: Which AI Video Giant Actually Drives ROAS in 2025?

The Core Concept
Creative fatigue is the silent killer of ROAS in 2025. Traditional video production cannot keep pace with the algorithmic demand for fresh content. AI video generation isn't just about replacing videographers; it's about enabling Programmatic Creative—the ability to generate, test, and iterate on hundreds of ad variants to find the statistical winners that lower your CAC.

The Strategy
Don't look for one tool to do everything. Use cinematic models like Sora or Veo for high-gloss brand awareness campaigns where visual fidelity is paramount. Use specialized performance tools like Koro for rapid, high-volume testing of direct response assets (UGC, product demos) where speed and iteration matter more than Hollywood physics.

Key Metrics
To evaluate success, track Creative Refresh Rate (how often you launch new ads), Time-to-Market (hours from idea to live ad), and Cost Per Creative. Successful brands use AI to drive Cost Per Creative down by 90%, allowing them to test 10x more hooks for the same budget.

Sora and Veo represent the pinnacle of generative video foundation models. They are the engines of the industry. However, for a performance marketer, raw horsepower matters less than handling.

Here is how they stack up for commercial use:

Sora and Veo have redefined what is possible with Diffusion Models. Both tools utilize advanced transformer architectures to understand not just pixels, but the underlying physics of the world they are simulating.

Sora shines in complex lighting situations. If you prompt for a "neon-lit cyberpunk street with rain reflecting on puddles," Sora understands the specular highlights and fluid dynamics of the water with shocking accuracy. It is the choice for "wow factor" brand films.

Veo, integrated into Google's ecosystem, excels at temporal consistency. In our tests, Veo maintained character identity slightly better over longer clips (exceeding 10 seconds). This reduces the "morphing" effect common in AI video, where a face might subtly change shape.

Micro-Example:

• Sora: Best for a 15-second perfume commercial featuring abstract, fluid imagery.
• Veo: Best for a 30-second explainer where the main subject needs to remain consistent across multiple shots.

Generative AI is useless if you cannot control the output. Both models are moving beyond simple text-to-video into more granular controls.

What is Prompt Adherence?
Prompt Adherence is the model's ability to execute every specific instruction in your prompt without hallucinating unwanted elements or ignoring details. High adherence is critical for brand safety.

Sora offers granular control over camera motion (pan, tilt, dolly). You can specify "drone shot zooming out" and the model understands the cinematic language. However, getting specific text overlays or exact product replicas remains a challenge for both foundation models.

Veo leverages Google's deep understanding of semantics. It handles abstract concepts well but can struggle with highly specific "negative prompts" (telling it what not to do). For e-commerce, this is a pain point—if you sell a supplement, you don't want the AI to hallucinate a competitor's bottle shape.

Here is the truth most agencies won't tell you: Perfection is the enemy of profit.

While Sora and Veo render breathtaking pixels, they are computationally heavy. Generating a single 60-second clip can take minutes or hours depending on server load. In a D2C environment, where you need to test 20 hooks by Friday, this latency is a bottleneck.

Performance marketing runs on Creative Velocity. If your competitor is testing 50 rough-but-effective UGC ads while you are rendering one perfect cinematic video, they will find the winning angle first. Their CPA will drop while you are still in post-production.

"We've seen brands obsess over 4K resolution while their competitors steal market share with 720p iPhone-style videos that feel authentic."

If your goal is an Academy Award, use Sora. If your goal is lower CAC, you need a workflow optimized for volume, not just fidelity.

How does the tool fit into your daily grind? This is where the ecosystems diverge.

• Google Veo: Will likely live inside YouTube Shorts and Google Workspace. Imagine typing a script in Docs and generating a B-roll clip right there. For teams heavily invested in the Google ad stack, this native integration will be a massive time-saver for Asset Groups in Performance Max campaigns.
• OpenAI Sora: Likely to be accessed via API or a standalone ChatGPT-style interface. This offers flexibility but requires you to build your own workflow or use third-party tools that wrap the API.

The Missing Link: Neither tool currently offers a "URL-to-Ad" feature. You still have to write the prompt, edit the clip, add the text overlay, and sync the audio manually. They are raw material generators, not finished ad makers.

While Sora and Veo battle for cinematic dominance, Koro has carved out a niche specifically for e-commerce growth teams. It isn't trying to make movies; it's trying to make money.

Koro is built on the "URL-to-Video" framework. Instead of crafting complex prompts, you paste your product page URL. The AI analyzes your brand DNA, writes the scripts, selects avatars, and generates ready-to-launch ads.

Where Koro Wins:

• UGC Simulation: It generates avatar-based videos that look like user reviews—the highest converting format on TikTok and Meta.
• Volume: You can generate 50 variants in the time it takes to prompt one Sora video.
• Localization: Instantly translate winning ads into 29+ languages to test new markets.

Koro excels at rapid UGC-style ad generation at scale, but for cinematic brand films with complex VFX, a traditional studio or Sora is still the better choice.

The Problem:
NovaGear, a consumer tech brand, needed video ads for 50 different SKUs for a Q4 push. Shipping products to 50 different creators would have cost over $15,000 and taken weeks. They were paralyzed by logistics.

The Solution:
They utilized Koro's "URL-to-Video" feature. The team simply pasted the product URLs into the platform. Koro's AI scraped the technical specs and benefits, then used AI Avatars to demo the features virtually. No cameras, no shipping, no actors.

The Results:

• Zero Shipping Costs: Saved ~$2,000 in logistics alone.
• Speed: Launched 50 distinct product videos in 48 hours.
• Outcome: They identified 4 "unicorn" winners that scaled to $100k+ in spend, which they never would have found with a manual workflow.

See how Koro automates this workflow → Try it free

Budgeting for AI video is tricky because pricing models are still evolving.

• Sora: Expected to follow a token-based or high-tier subscription model. Estimates put heavy usage in the hundreds of dollars per month range, similar to enterprise rendering costs.
• Veo: Likely bundled with Google Cloud or Workspace tiers, potentially offering a "free" tier for light users, but scaling costs for heavy compute will apply.
• Koro: Offers a flat, transparent model for marketers. At $39/month, it is designed to replace a $5,000/month agency retainer.

The ROI Calculation:
If a traditional video costs $500 to produce and fails, you lost $500. If an AI video costs $0.50 to generate and fails, you lost pennies. The math favors volume.

The "best" tool depends entirely on your objective.

Choose OpenAI Sora if:

• You are a creative director at a branding agency.
• You need one "hero" asset for a website background or TV spot.
• Visual fidelity and physics simulation are your top priorities.

Choose Google Veo if:

• You are deeply embedded in the Google Workspace ecosystem.
• You are creating content specifically for YouTube Shorts.
• You need longer, consistent clips for storytelling.

Choose Koro if:

• You are a performance marketer or D2C founder.
• Your primary goal is lowering CPA and increasing ROAS.
• You need to test 20+ creative angles per week to beat creative fatigue.

For most e-commerce brands, the bottleneck isn't quality—it's quantity and speed. Koro solves the scaling problem, while Sora and Veo solve the rendering problem.