NEW SURVEY: GLOBAL MARKETING BUDGETS STAGNATE

This year, marketers are faced with the question of how to achieve growth without increasing budgets. The key answer seems to be technology-enabled productivity, particularly AI and data analytics.

Global marketing budgets remain at the same level as last year, averaging 7.7% of total corporate revenues. This is according to a new survey by Gartner.

The survey of more than 400 chief marketing officers (CMOs) in North America, the United Kingdom and Europe found that 59% of them consider their budget to be insufficient to meet strategic goals. Although this is 5 percentage points less than in 2024, it still represents the majority of respondents.

‘Marketing budgets have stabilised, but remain insufficient for many CMOs,’ said Ewan McIntyre, vice president and chief analyst at Gartner. ‘With the current macroeconomic uncertainty, we are even seeing the first signs of possible cuts later in the year,’ he added.



With budgets stagnating, marketing directors are looking for ways to achieve greater efficiency. They most often use data analytics to optimise performance and invest in technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, which helps automate routine tasks. According to respondents, investments in generative AI are starting to pay off: 49% report time savings, 40% report lower costs, and 27% report increased capacity (e.g., content production or handling a larger volume of work). Only 1% of marketing leaders said that generative AI is not a current priority for them.

The largest item in marketing budgets remains paid media advertising, which accounts for an average of 30.6% of the marketing budget (corresponding to 2.4% of total company revenue). However, due to media price inflation, marketers are getting less for their money.

CMOs are looking for savings primarily in agencies and internal labour. 39% plan to reduce agency spending, with common steps including terminating ineffective partnerships, narrowing the agency portfolio and re-evaluating contracts. 22% say that generative AI has reduced their dependence on external partners for creative and strategy development. 39% of marketing directors also plan to make cuts in human resources, e.g. by reducing duplicate roles or the total number of employees.