Marketers strain to juggle media budgets, AI and high expectations from CEOs

Marketers strain to juggle media budgets, AI and high expectations from CEOs

Marketing budgets are all but flat, but chief marketing officers are being tasked with juggling investments marked for media, creative and AI on the same departmental balance sheet, according to Gartner. Advertisers currently spend 7.8% of company revenue on marketing on average, a paltry increase of 0.1% compared with last year, according to the company’s annual CMO Spend Survey of more than 400 marketing leaders in North America, the United Ki…

AI remains a top priority for CMOs, but spending lags: Gartner

While 70% of CMOs say AI is a key focus for 2026, only 30% feel they have the infrastructure to achieve their goals.

CMOs raid budgets to fund AI drive but hit maturity gap - DecisionMarketing

Chief marketing officers are now funnelling an average of 15.3% of their total marketing budgets into artificial intelligence, in many cases raiding their already depleted budgets to pay for it, yet a significant “maturity gap” threatens to undermine these investments. So says the 2026 Gartner CMO Spend Survey, which reveals that while the appetite for AI transformation is at an all-time high, the internal infrastructure to support it remains d…