Chief Marketing Officers are allocating 15.3 percent of marketing budgets to AI initiatives, with only 30 percent reporting being ‘ready’, according to a new Gartner report.
Conducted from January to March 2026, the Gartner CMO Spend Survey asked 401 marketing leaders across the US, UK and Europe how they’re spending their marketing budgets.
The survey found that despite CMOs investing heavily in AI because it’s driving efficiencies, many reveal their internal processes aren’t ready to effectively implement and scale those initiatives.
VP Analyst and Chief of Research in the Gartner Marketing practice, Ewan McIntyre, said: “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.”
When it comes to leadership, 70 percent of CMOs say becoming an AI leader is a critical goal for them this year. Separately, 70 percent recognise their internal processes aren’t mature enough to scale AI.
Tightening CMO budgets
CMO budgets are similar to the previous year at 7.8 percent of entire budgets compared with 7.7 percent in 2025. Because of this, 56 percent of respondents said they lacked the marketing budget to deliver their marketing strategies effectively.
The report found that marketing leaders are facing pressure to fund AI initiatives due to wider economic strain, in hopes AI projects will influence greater business impact.
McIntyre warns of the risk of deploying AI tools before the correct “data foundations, processes, governance, and talent” is organised. He said: “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.”
