Marketing Budgets Remain Effectively Flat as CMOs Face Pressure to Deliver AI-Enabled Growth and Efficiency
CMOs are allocating an average of 15.3% of marketing budgets to AI initiatives, yet most marketing organizations lack the maturity to scale those investments, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company. While 70% of CMOs say becoming an AI leader is a critical goal for 2026, only 30% report mature or fully developed AI readiness capabilities.
The annual Gartner CMO Spend Survey was conducted January through March 2026 among 401 CMOs and other marketing leaders in North America, the United Kingdom and Europe across different industries, company sizes and revenue, with the vast majority of respondents reporting annual revenue of over $1 billion. Gartner experts revealed the findings during the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo, which is taking place in London.
“CMOs recognize AI’s potential as a force multiplier for growth, efficiency and transformation, but most marketing organizations are not yet built to capture that value,” said Ewan McIntyre, VP Analyst and Chief of Research in the Gartner Marketing practice. “The risk is that CMOs invest in AI tools faster than they build the data foundations, processes, governance and talent required to scale them.”
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Marketing budgets remain effectively flat, rising only slightly to 7.8% of company revenue in 2026 from 7.7% in 2025. This constrained fiscal environment is increasing pressure on CMOs to fund AI-enabled transformation through sharper prioritization and resource reallocation.
CMOs Increase AI Investment, but Readiness Lags
The survey found a clear gap between AI ambition and organizational readiness. Seventy percent of CMOs consider becoming an AI leader to be a critical goal for 2026. However, 70% also acknowledge that their internal marketing processes are not yet mature enough to effectively implement and scale AI.
CMOs whose organizations report mature or fully developed AI readiness capabilities are establishing an early advantage by pairing AI investment with stronger budget agility, innovation commitment and organizational readiness. These more AI-ready marketing organizations allocate 21.3% of their marketing budgets to AI initiatives, compared with the survey average of 15.3%. They also report average marketing budgets of 8.9% of company revenue, above the 2026 average of 7.8%.
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“AI maturity is beginning to separate marketing leaders from laggards,” said McIntyre. “The most advanced CMOs are not simply spending more on AI. They are creating the budget agility, innovation capacity and operating discipline needed to turn AI investment into measurable business impact.”
Constrained Resources Force CMOs to Prioritize AI-Enabled Transformation
While overall marketing budgets have remained effectively flat, CMOs are still expected to deliver growth, efficiency and AI-enabled transformation. The survey found that 56% of CMOs say their marketing organization lacks the budget required to deliver their 2026 strategy, while 54% report insufficient resources.
This resource gap is forcing CMOs to make sharper decisions about where to invest, what to deprioritize and how to reallocate existing resources toward capabilities that can create greater business impact. As AI becomes a larger share of marketing investment, CMOs must ensure those dollars are supported by the right operating model, governance, data foundations and talent.
“CMOs are being asked to deliver growth, efficiency and transformation without meaningful budget expansion,” said McIntyre. “Those who succeed will make deliberate, data-driven trade-offs and treat AI as a force multiplier.”
