AI ambitions outpace marketing readiness, Gartner

Chief marketing officers are allocating an average of 15.3 percent of their marketing budgets to AI initiatives, but many organizations still lack the operational maturity needed to scale those investments, according to a new Gartner survey.

The research found that while 70 percent of CMOs consider becoming an AI leader a critical objective for 2026, only 30 percent report having mature or fully developed AI readiness capabilities within their marketing organizations.

The Gartner CMO Spend Survey was conducted between January and March 2026 among 401 CMOs and marketing leaders across North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Most respondents represented companies with annual revenue exceeding $1 billion.

AI investment rises as budgets remain constrained

Marketing budgets remained largely unchanged year over year, rising slightly to 7.8 percent of company revenue in 2026 from 7.7 percent in 2025.

Despite limited budget growth, CMOs continue to increase spending on AI technologies as they seek to improve efficiency, accelerate growth, and support business transformation initiatives.

Ewan McIntyre, VP analyst and chief of research, Gartner Marketing practice: “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. The risk is that CMOs invest in AI tools faster than they build the data foundations, processes, governance and talent required to scale them.”

Readiness gap creates competitive divide

According to Gartner, organizations with mature AI readiness capabilities are beginning to separate themselves from competitors by pairing AI investment with stronger operational flexibility and innovation strategies.

These more advanced marketing organizations allocate an average of 21.3 percent of their budgets to AI initiatives, significantly above the overall survey average of 15.3 percent. They also report larger marketing budgets overall, averaging 8.9 percent of company revenue.

Ewan McIntyre: “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.”

CMOs face pressure to prioritise investments

The survey found that 56 percent of CMOs believe their organizations do not have sufficient budgets to execute their 2026 strategies, while 54 percent cited a lack of adequate resources.

As AI spending increases, Gartner said marketing leaders are being forced to make more targeted investment decisions and reallocate resources toward areas expected to deliver stronger business outcomes.

The company noted that successful AI adoption will depend not only on technology investment, but also on governance structures, operational models, data infrastructure, and internal talent development.

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

The full report can be accessed here

www.gartner.com

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