Marketing leaders are sharply increasing investments in artificial intelligence, but most organisations are struggling to translate that spend into scalable impact, according to a new survey by Gartner.
The firm’s latest CMO Spend Survey finds that chief marketing officers (CMOs) are allocating an average of 15.3% of their marketing budgets to AI initiatives, even as organisational readiness remains limited. While 70% of CMOs say becoming an AI leader is a critical goal for 2026, only 30% report mature or fully developed AI capabilities.
The survey, conducted between January and March 2026 among 401 marketing leaders across North America, the UK and Europe, highlights a widening gap between ambition and execution.
AI ambition outpaces organisational readiness
Despite growing enthusiasm for AI, most marketing organisations are not yet structurally equipped to deploy it at scale.
“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.
A significant 70% of CMOs acknowledged that their internal marketing processes lack the maturity required to effectively implement and scale AI, underlining systemic gaps in areas such as data infrastructure, governance, talent and workflows.
This mismatch raises concerns that organisations may be overinvesting in AI tools without building the foundational capabilities needed to extract value.
Budget pressures intensify the challenge
The findings come at a time when marketing budgets are largely stagnant. In 2026, marketing spend accounts for 7.8% of company revenue, up only marginally from 7.7% in 2025.
This constrained environment is forcing CMOs to fund AI-led transformation through reprioritisation rather than fresh capital allocation.
More than half of respondents flagged resource constraints:
- 56% said their marketing budgets are insufficient to deliver their 2026 strategy
- 54% cited a lack of adequate resources
As a result, leaders are being pushed to make sharper trade-offs—deciding which initiatives to scale, pause or cut altogether.
AI maturity emerges as a competitive differentiator
The survey also highlights a growing divide between AI leaders and laggards.
Organisations with mature AI readiness capabilities are:
- Allocating 21.3% of their marketing budgets to AI, significantly above the 15.3% average
- Operating with larger overall marketing budgets (8.9% of revenue) compared to the 7.8% industry benchmark
These companies are not just spending more—they are pairing AI investments with stronger operating discipline, innovation frameworks and budget agility, enabling them to generate measurable business outcomes.
“AI maturity is beginning to separate marketing leaders from laggards,” McIntyre noted. “The most advanced CMOs are not simply spending more on AI. They are creating the conditions needed to turn AI investment into business impact.”
The road ahead: discipline over hype
As AI claims a larger share of marketing budgets, the pressure is mounting on CMOs to ensure that investments are backed by robust data ecosystems, governance models and skilled talent.
With budgets unlikely to expand meaningfully, success will hinge on data-driven prioritisation and disciplined execution, rather than experimentation alone.
The report underscores a critical inflection point for marketing leaders: AI is no longer optional—but without organisational readiness, it risks becoming an underleveraged expense rather than a growth engine.
