CMO and Marketing Budget Statistics 2026: Verified Benchmarks From Gartner and The CMO Survey

Executive summary

• Marketing budgets sit near a multi-year low as a share of company revenue. Gartner reports 7.8% of revenue in its 2026 CMO Spend Survey. The CMO Survey reports 9.0% of revenue in its January 2026 edition.
• The two surveys moved in opposite directions for 2026. Gartner ticked up from 7.7% (2025) to 7.8% (2026). The CMO Survey fell from 9.4% (spring 2025) to 9.0% (January 2026).
• The persistent gap between the two sources is a sampling difference. Gartner surveys large enterprises, most with over $1 billion in revenue. The CMO Survey includes many smaller United States firms, which spend a higher share of revenue on marketing.
• Budget growth has slowed sharply. The CMO Survey reports overall marketing spending grew just 1.7% over the prior 12 months in early 2026, the weakest rate since 2021.
• Paid media is the largest and only growing budget category in the Gartner data, reaching 30.6% of the marketing budget in 2025 and 31.4% in 2026.
• Martech’s share of the marketing budget has fallen for five straight years in the Gartner series, from 26.6% in 2021 to 19.4% in 2026, even as 62% of CMOs say they plan to invest more in marketing technology.
• Artificial intelligence spending is rising fast but readiness lags. Gartner reports CMOs allocate 15.3% of the marketing budget to AI in 2026, yet only 30% say they are ready to scale AI capabilities.
• Traditional advertising continues its long decline, down to 3.8% of marketing budgets in The CMO Survey’s 2026 edition and projected to fall a further 1.5% in the coming year.
• Business-to-consumer product companies spend the most on marketing as a share of revenue. The CMO Survey reports 12.0% for that group in 2026 against 7.0% for business-to-business product companies.

Key findings

1. 7.8% of revenue. Marketing budgets averaged 7.8% of company revenue in 2026, up slightly from 7.7% in 2025. Source: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey, fielded January to March 2026, more than 400 marketing leaders in North America, the United Kingdom and Europe, most with over $1 billion in revenue.
2. 9.0% of revenue. Marketing budgets averaged 9.0% of company revenue and 9.6% of the overall company budget, the lowest budget share since 2021. Source: The CMO Survey, 35th edition, fielded January 7 to 29, 2026, 308 marketing leaders at United States for-profit companies.
3. 1.7% growth. Overall marketing spending grew 1.7% over the prior 12 months, the weakest rate since 2021, while digital marketing spending grew 8.2%. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.
4. 30.6% to paid media. Paid media accounted for 30.6% of the marketing budget in 2025, equal to 2.4% of company revenue, and rose to 31.4% in 2026. Source: Gartner 2025 and 2026 CMO Spend Surveys, North America, United Kingdom and Europe.
5. Martech down to 19.4%. Marketing technology fell to 19.4% of the marketing budget in 2026, down from 22.4% in 2025 and 26.6% in 2021. Source: Gartner CMO Spend Surveys, 2021 to 2026.
6. 62% plan to spend more on martech. Despite the falling share, 62% of the 401 CMOs surveyed said they plan to invest more in marketing technology. Source: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey.
7. 15.3% to AI. CMOs allocated 15.3% of the marketing budget to artificial intelligence on average in 2026, but only 30% said they were ready to scale AI capabilities. Source: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey.
8. 24.2% of activities use AI. Artificial intelligence and machine learning were used in 24.2% of marketing activities in early 2026, up from 13.1% in 2024, with companies projecting 55.9% within three years. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.
9. Generative AI up 220%. Generative AI use in marketing rose to 22.4% of activities in early 2026, up from 7.0% two years earlier. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.
10. 41.5% use GEO. Generative engine optimization, the practice of getting content to appear in AI-generated search results, was already used by 41.5% of companies. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.
11. Traditional advertising at 3.8%. Traditional advertising fell to 3.8% of marketing budgets and is projected to decline a further 1.5% in the coming year. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.
12. Half at 6% or less. Half of CMOs reported marketing budgets of 6% of revenue or less in 2025, and 59% said they lacked sufficient budget to execute their strategy. Source: Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey.
13. 39% cutting agencies and labor. In 2025, 39% of CMOs planned to cut agency budgets and 39% planned to reduce labor spending. Source: Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey.
14. Acquisition outweighs retention. Acquisition budgets were 26.0% larger than retention budgets in early 2026, up from 19.6% one year earlier, even though retention delivered stronger performance. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.
15. $258.6 billion in digital ad revenue. United States internet advertising revenue reached $258.6 billion in full-year 2024, up 14.9% year over year. Source: IAB and PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report, Full Year 2024, released April 2025.

Marketing budget as a percent of revenue

Both surveys ask marketing leaders what share of company revenue goes to marketing. The two produce different levels because they sample different companies. Gartner draws from large enterprises, most reporting over $1 billion in revenue. The CMO Survey draws from a broad mix of United States firms, including smaller companies that tend to spend a higher share of revenue on marketing. The result is a durable gap of roughly 1 to 2 percentage points, with The CMO Survey running higher.

Gartner reported 7.8% of revenue in 2026, effectively flat against 7.7% in both 2024 and 2025. The CMO Survey reported 9.0% of revenue in January 2026, down from 9.4% in its spring 2025 edition. The two sources disagreed on direction for 2026: Gartner edged up while The CMO Survey edged down. Readers comparing year-over-year change should not mix the two series, because the samples and field dates differ.

Sources: Gartner CMO Spend Surveys, 2024 to 2026, North America, United Kingdom and Europe. The CMO Survey, 2024 to 2026, United States. The 2024 readings coincide at 7.7% but are not methodologically identical. All figures are self-reported survey estimates.

The CMO Survey also reports marketing as a share of the overall company budget, a different denominator from revenue. That figure was 9.6% in January 2026, down from 11.4% in spring 2025 and its lowest level since 2021. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.

Year-over-year budget change

Growth in marketing spending has cooled across both surveys. The CMO Survey reported overall marketing spending grew 1.7% over the prior 12 months in its January 2026 edition, down from 3.3% in spring 2025 and 5.8% in fall 2024. Digital marketing spending grew faster at 8.2% in early 2026, though that too was down from 11.1% in fall 2024. Source: The CMO Survey, 2024 to 2026, United States.

On the enterprise side, Gartner reported budgets held flat as a share of revenue at 7.7% in 2025 before nudging to 7.8% in 2026. In 2025, 59% of CMOs said they had insufficient budget to execute their strategy, which was down 5 percentage points from 2024. Source: Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey.

Forrester’s 2026 planning research found 83% of business-to-business marketing decision-makers expected increased investment over the next 12 months, though 40% expected a rise of at least 5% while most expected gains of 1% to 4%. For business-to-consumer marketers the outlook was tighter, with 52% predicting smaller budgets and 51% expecting reduced headcount. Source: Forrester 2026 budget planning research, reported June 2026.

Source: The CMO Survey, 2024 to 2026, United States for-profit companies. Self-reported estimates of change over the prior 12 months.

Spend allocation: paid media, martech, labor, agencies, and channels

Gartner splits the marketing budget into a small number of large buckets. In its 2025 survey the split was paid media 30.6%, martech 22.4%, labor 21.9%, and agencies 20.7%. Paid media was the single largest category and the only one to grow its share over the prior five years, rising about 11% year over year. Source: Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey.

In the 2026 survey the reallocation continued. Paid media rose to 31.4% of the budget, labor to 24.5%, and martech fell to 19.4%. Gartner reported digital channels reached 67.5% of the marketing budget in 2026, up from 54.9% in 2023. Source: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey, reported by Chief Marketer, May 2026.

The CMO Survey approaches channels differently and tracks social media and traditional advertising as shares of the budget. Social media spending rebounded to 14.3% of budgets in early 2026 after dipping to 11.3% in spring 2025, with marketers predicting 17.1% within one year and 23.1% within five years. The CMO Survey cautions that 12-month social media forecasts have exceeded actual spending by an average of 2.1 percentage points over its history. Traditional advertising stood at 3.8% of marketing budgets. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.

Sources: Gartner CMO Spend Surveys, 2021 to 2026, North America, United Kingdom and Europe. Categories do not sum to 100% across a single column here because not every category is shown for every year and definitions of in-house and other spending are excluded. All figures are self-reported survey estimates for large enterprises.

Martech spend share and the utilization gap

Marketing technology’s share of the enterprise marketing budget has fallen every year in the Gartner series since 2021. It moved from 26.6% in 2021 to 25.4% in 2023, 23.8% in 2024, 22.4% in 2025, and 19.4% in 2026. Gartner attributes part of the decline to CMOs holding less control over martech as other functions such as information technology take on more of the buying. Source: Gartner CMO Spend Surveys, 2021 to 2026.

The decline coincides with rising stated intent to invest. In the 2026 survey, 62% of the 401 CMOs said they planned to invest more in marketing technology, and 56% said they had increased the share of their martech budget allocated to consumption-based pricing while only 9% had decreased it. Source: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey.

The CMO Survey reports a parallel problem on the performance side. In its January 2026 edition, no marketing technology activity scored above 5 on a 7-point performance scale, and marketers named lack of budget and funding the top barrier to maximizing the impact of marketing technologies, cited by 20.1%. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.

Budget by sector: business-to-business, business-to-consumer, product, and services

The CMO Survey breaks results into four economic sectors: business-to-business product, business-to-business services, business-to-consumer product, and business-to-consumer services. Consumer-facing companies consistently spend a larger share of revenue on marketing than business-facing companies.

In the January 2026 edition, business-to-consumer product companies spent 12.0% of revenue on marketing, the highest of the four groups. Business-to-business services companies spent 10.1%, business-to-consumer services 7.2%, and business-to-business product companies 7.0%. As a share of the overall company budget, business-to-consumer product companies again led at 13.8%. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.

Digital spending growth also varied by sector in early 2026. Business-to-consumer services companies reported the fastest digital marketing spending growth at 16.6%, followed by business-to-consumer product at 12.6%, business-to-business services at 7.1%, and business-to-business product at 4.1%. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026, United States.

Source: The CMO Survey, 35th edition, fielded January 7 to 29, 2026, 308 United States for-profit companies. Self-reported survey estimates.

For historical context, the spring 2025 edition showed a wider spread, with business-to-consumer product companies at 15.5% of revenue against 6.4% for business-to-business product companies. The narrowing in 2026 reflects both softer consumer-side budgets and the smaller sample within each sector. Source: The CMO Survey, spring 2025 and January 2026, United States.

Digital advertising market context

Survey budget shares gain meaning against the size of the digital advertising market. United States internet advertising revenue reached $258.6 billion in full-year 2024, a record and a 14.9% increase over 2023. Search led at $102.9 billion, followed by display at $74.3 billion, digital video at $62.1 billion, and social media at $88.7 billion, which grew 36.7%. Retail media networks reached $53.7 billion, up 23%. Source: IAB and PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report, Full Year 2024, released April 2025, United States.

Original synthesis: derived insights

Insight 1: The source gap in budget-as-a-percent-of-revenue is structural, not noise

Logic: for each year where both surveys report a revenue-share figure, subtract the Gartner reading from The CMO Survey reading. For 2026 the calculation is 9.0% minus 7.8%, a gap of 1.2 percentage points, with The CMO Survey higher. In spring 2025 the gap was 9.4% minus 7.7%, or 1.7 points. In 2024 both read 7.7%, a gap of zero, which is the exception rather than the rule.

Interpretation: the gap tracks sample composition. Gartner samples large enterprises, most above $1 billion in revenue, which spend a smaller share of revenue on marketing. The CMO Survey includes smaller United States firms that spend more. This is why the two headline numbers should be read as complements, not as a contradiction to be resolved. Input sources: Gartner 2024 to 2026 CMO Spend Surveys; The CMO Survey 2024 to 2026. Limitations: the 2024 coincidence at 7.7% may be partly coincidental given different field dates and samples, and the gap in any single year is within the range of survey error for samples of a few hundred respondents.

Insight 2: Digital has crowded traditional advertising to the margin

Logic: place the two ends of the spectrum side by side. Gartner reports digital channels at 67.5% of the enterprise marketing budget in 2026. The CMO Survey reports traditional advertising at 3.8% of the marketing budget in the same window, with a projected further decline of 1.5% in the coming year. Combined, the readings show digital as roughly two-thirds of enterprise budgets while traditional advertising has fallen below one twentieth of budgets among the broader United States sample.

Interpretation: the shift is long-running rather than sudden. Traditional advertising growth has been negative in most CMO Survey editions over the past decade. Input sources: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey (digital channels share); The CMO Survey January 2026 (traditional advertising share and forecast); IAB and PwC Full Year 2024 (market-level digital growth of 14.9%). Limitations: the two surveys define digital and traditional differently, so the figures sit on the same trend but are not directly additive, and both are self-reported.

Insight 3: The martech paradox, rising intent against a falling share

Logic: chart the Gartner martech share across editions, then set it against stated investment intent. Martech fell from 26.6% of budget in 2021 to 19.4% in 2026, a decline of 7.2 percentage points over five years. In the same 2026 survey, 62% of CMOs said they planned to invest more in marketing technology. The intent to spend more coexists with a shrinking budget share, which points to falling unit costs, consumption-based pricing, and shifting ownership of martech to other functions rather than to marketers walking away from technology.

Interpretation: The CMO Survey adds a performance dimension. No martech activity scored above 5 on a 7-point scale in January 2026, and lack of budget was the top barrier at 20.1%. The paradox is that organizations keep buying while struggling to extract full value. Input sources: Gartner CMO Spend Surveys 2021 to 2026 (martech share and investment intent); The CMO Survey January 2026 (performance scores and barriers). Limitations: Gartner’s martech share and The CMO Survey’s performance scores come from different samples and cannot be joined at the respondent level.

Insight 4: AI spending is running ahead of AI readiness

Logic: compare the money going in with the readiness coming out. Gartner reports CMOs allocated 15.3% of the marketing budget to AI in 2026 while only 30% said they were ready to scale AI capabilities. Gartner also found the more AI-ready organizations allocated 21.3% of budget to AI and reported larger overall marketing budgets of 8.9% of revenue, above the 7.8% average. The CMO Survey shows AI already embedded in 24.2% of marketing activities, projected to reach 55.9% within three years.

Interpretation: spending is not the binding constraint. Readiness, talent, and integration are. Input sources: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey (AI budget share and readiness); The CMO Survey January 2026 (AI activity share and projection). Limitations: both are self-reported, and AI budget share can be inflated by reclassification of existing tools as AI.

Methodology

Source selection favored the two recurring surveys most cited by analysts and journalists on this topic, plus official industry data for market context. The Gartner CMO Spend and Strategy Survey and The CMO Survey were treated as the primary inputs for budget percentages. The IAB and PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report was used for market size. Forrester was used for forward-looking budget sentiment.

Inclusion rules: a figure was included only if it could be traced to a named survey edition with a field date, a stated geography, and a stated sample. Figures that could not be tied to a specific edition were excluded. Loosely rounded or unattributed numbers circulating in secondary summaries were excluded unless the primary edition confirmed them.

Handling conflicts: where Gartner and The CMO Survey reported different levels for the same measure, both are shown with their samples, and the difference is attributed to sample composition rather than presented as one figure overriding the other. No blended average was computed across the two surveys, because their samples and denominators differ.

Estimates: this briefing computes no new survey estimates. The derived insights in the synthesis section combine published figures using stated arithmetic, and each states its inputs and limitations. Where a secondary trade publication was the accessible carrier of a primary Gartner figure, that is noted in the citation.

Data limitations: all budget figures here are self-reported estimates from samples of a few hundred marketing leaders. They are subject to selection bias, recall bias, and definitional differences between surveys. Date of last update: July 25, 2026.

Source quality ranking

Tier 1, primary and official bodies. The CMO Survey, directed by Professor Christine Moorman at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and sponsored by Deloitte and the American Marketing Association, is an academic-industry survey with published topline and highlights reports. The IAB and PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report is the official United States industry benchmark for digital ad revenue, now in its 29th year.

Tier 2, credible market research firms. The Gartner CMO Spend and Strategy Survey is a proprietary annual survey of senior marketers, published through Gartner press releases and analyst commentary. Forrester budget planning research provides forward-looking sentiment from a credible research firm.

Tier 3, reputable trade journalism. MarTech, Chief Marketer, Campaign, Marketing Brew, Marketing Dive, and Sword and the Script were used only as accessible carriers of primary Gartner and CMO Survey figures where the primary page was paywalled or blocked. No statistic in this briefing rests on trade journalism alone without a named survey edition behind it.

Most quotable statistics

• Marketing budgets averaged 7.8% of company revenue in 2026, near a multi-year low. Source: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey.
• The CMO Survey put marketing at 9.0% of revenue and 9.6% of the overall company budget in January 2026, the lowest budget share since 2021.
• Overall marketing spending grew just 1.7% in the year to early 2026, the weakest rate since 2021. Source: The CMO Survey.
• Paid media reached 31.4% of the marketing budget in 2026, the largest and only growing category. Source: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey.
• Martech fell to 19.4% of the marketing budget in 2026, down from 26.6% in 2021, even as 62% of CMOs said they plan to spend more on it. Source: Gartner.
• CMOs allocated 15.3% of the marketing budget to AI in 2026, yet only 30% said they were ready to scale it. Source: Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey.
• Traditional advertising has fallen to 3.8% of marketing budgets. Source: The CMO Survey, January 2026.
• Acquisition budgets ran 26.0% larger than retention budgets in early 2026, up from 19.6% a year earlier. Source: The CMO Survey.

Data limitations

• All budget percentages are self-reported survey estimates, not audited financials.
• Sample sizes are in the low hundreds. The CMO Survey January 2026 edition had 308 respondents. Gartner’s 2026 survey had 401. Sector and size cuts rest on smaller subsamples.
• Gartner and The CMO Survey sample different populations and cannot be blended. Gartner skews to enterprises above $1 billion in revenue. The CMO Survey covers a broad United States size mix.
• Geography differs. Gartner covers North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. The CMO Survey covers United States firms. IAB and PwC data are United States only.
• Forecast figures, such as projected social media spending, have historically overshot actual spending in The CMO Survey by an average of 2.1 percentage points.
• Category definitions differ between surveys, so digital, traditional, martech, and AI shares are comparable in direction but not identical in scope.

Downloadable dataset: recommended fields

• metric_name
• value_percent_or_usd
• unit
• source_name
• survey_edition
• field_dates
• sample_size
• geography
• segment (overall, sector, company size)
• denominator (revenue, company budget, marketing budget)
• prior_period_value
• year_over_year_change
• self_reported_flag
• source_url
• date_retrieved

Press summary

Marketing budgets are holding near a multi-year low in 2026. The Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey put marketing at 7.8% of company revenue among large enterprises, effectively flat. The CMO Survey, run by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with Deloitte, put it at 9.0% of revenue among a broader United States sample, its lowest budget share since 2021. The two surveys diverge because they sample different companies, with smaller firms spending a higher share of revenue. Growth has cooled to 1.7% a year, the weakest since 2021. Inside the budget, paid media keeps expanding, reaching 31.4% of enterprise spending, while marketing technology has slipped to 19.4% despite most CMOs saying they plan to spend more on it. Artificial intelligence now takes 15.3% of the marketing budget, though only 30% of CMOs say they are ready to scale it. Traditional advertising has fallen to 3.8% of budgets.

Suggested headlines

• Marketing budgets stall near multi-year low as 2026 surveys diverge
• CMOs pour 15.3% of budgets into AI, but only 30% are ready to scale it
• Martech’s share of marketing budgets keeps shrinking, even as spending intent rises
• Paid media now takes a third of the marketing budget while traditional advertising fades to 3.8%
• Why Gartner and The CMO Survey disagree on how much companies spend on marketing

Frequently asked questions

Primary sources

• Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey, released May 11, 2026, fielded January to March 2026, 401 marketing leaders in North America, the United Kingdom and Europe.
• Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey, released May 12, 2025, fielded February to March 2025, 402 CMOs and marketing leaders in North America, the United Kingdom and Europe.
• The CMO Survey, 35th edition, fielded January 7 to 29, 2026, 308 United States for-profit companies, Duke University Fuqua School of Business with Deloitte and the American Marketing Association.
• The CMO Survey, spring 2025 edition, fielded January 21 to February 12, 2025, 281 United States for-profit companies.
• IAB and PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report, Full Year 2024, released April 2025, United States.
• Forrester 2026 budget planning research, reported June 2026.