Gartner: CMOs Face Pressure to Deliver AI Growth

According to Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey, advertisers are currently spending on average only 7.8% of company revenue of their marketing budgets. The average 2026 budget is up 0.1% compared to the previous year’s average.

The survey saw data gathered from more than 400 marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe from January through March 2026, with the vast majority of respondents reporting annual revenue of more than US$1bn.

Gartner experts revealed the findings at the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo in London on 11 May.

Ewan McIntyre, VP Analyst and Chief of Research at Gartner, said in a 2023 Harvard Business Review article that single figure percentage budgets were “the new normal” for advertisers following the end of the pandemic-era spending boom.

“CMOs recognise AI’s potential as a force multiplier for growth, efficiency and transformation, but most marketing organisations are not yet built to capture that value,” Ewan says, discussing the 2026 survey.

“The risk is that CMOs invest in AI tools faster than they build the data foundations, processes, governance and talent required to scale them.”

The survey also found within that allocated budget, marketers are on average putting 15.3% of it toward AI initiatives. 

Global brands now make instrumental use of generative AI for marketing initiatives, spanning chatbots, virtual focus groups, automated creative production, media measurement and buying tools.

Ambition and organisational readiness

According to the survey, global marketing budgets are largely remaining 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 push for more AI-enabled transformation through sharper prioritisation and resource reallocation.

The survey also found a distinct gap between AI ambition and organisational readiness, with 70% of CMOs believing that becoming a leader in AI technology is a critical goal for 2026.

However, 70% also acknowledge that their internal marketing processes are not ready to effectively implement and scale AI.

It adds that CMOs whose organisations report mature or fully developed AI readiness capabilities are establishing an early advantage by pairing AI investment with stronger budget agility, innovation commitment and organisational readiness. 

The more AI-ready marketing companies on average allocate 21.3% of their marketing budgets to AI initiatives, compared to Gartner’s survey average of 15.3%. 

These companies also report average marketing budgets of 8.9% of company revenue, above the 2026 average of 7.8%.

Ewan adds: “AI maturity is beginning to separate marketing leaders from laggards.

“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.”

Integral to brand strategies

Several large global brands are currently implementing AI into their marketing operations and have suggested that AI is integral to their brand strategy.

Discussing the company’s AI and marketing initiatives in a Digiday article, Mammut CMO Nic Brandenberger says: “We’ve been working early on with specialised partners to generate learnings as the [AI] tech evolves, not waiting until it covers all the needs we have.”

He added that Mammut had built its latest campaign around AI, using a Gemini-powered chatbot to respond to negative feedback on YouTube and X, in an effort to push its “take a hike” positivity campaign.

Mammut isn’t the only advertiser to implement similar measures into its marketing. For example, TripAdvisor now handles 40% of its customer support inquiries through AI chatbots.

Discussing this strategy on a May earnings call, Matt Goldberg, President and CEO of the company, said: “AI is now a critical part of our infrastructure, increasing the speed at which teams can build, test, and deploy.”

Gartner’s research says 80% of CEOs expect AI to provide a “significant degree of change”, however, not all marketers believe they can meet that expectation. 

The survey adds that while 70% said that “AI leadership” was a critical goal for 2026, more than half of CMOs surveyed say their team lacked the budget required to meet annual objectives and 56% said that their budgets would be cut if they missed their goals.

“CMOs are being asked to deliver growth, efficiency and transformation without meaningful budget expansion,” Ewan adds. “Those who succeed will make deliberate, data-driven trade-offs and treat AI as a force multiplier.”