Chief marketing officers are allocating an average of 15.3% of marketing budgets to artificial intelligence initiatives, but most marketing organisations still lack the maturity needed to scale those investments, according to a survey released by Gartner.
The Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey found that while 70% of CMOs consider becoming an AI leader a critical goal for 2026, only 30% report mature or fully developed AI readiness capabilities.
The findings were presented during the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo in London and are based on a survey conducted between January and March 2026 among 401 CMOs and other marketing leaders across North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. Most respondents represented organisations with annual revenue exceeding $1 billion.
AI investment grows while readiness capabilities lag
The survey found a gap between AI ambition and organisational readiness, with 70% of CMOs also acknowledging that their internal marketing processes are not mature enough to effectively implement and scale AI.
Ewan McIntyre, Vice President Analyst and Chief of Research in Gartner’s marketing practice, said marketing organisations were investing in AI faster than they were building the foundations required to support it.
“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,” McIntyre said.
“The risk is that CMOs invest in AI tools faster than they build the data foundations, processes, governance and talent required to scale them.”
According to Gartner, organisations reporting mature or fully developed AI readiness capabilities are pairing AI investment with stronger budget agility, innovation commitment and organisational readiness.
These organisations allocate 21.3% of their marketing budgets to AI initiatives, compared with the overall survey average of 15.3%.
Marketing budgets remain effectively flat
The survey found that marketing budgets increased only slightly to 7.8% of company revenue in 2026 from 7.7% in 2025.
Gartner said this constrained fiscal environment was increasing pressure on CMOs to fund AI-enabled transformation through sharper prioritisation and resource reallocation.
According to the survey, 56% of CMOs said their marketing organisations lacked the budget required to deliver their 2026 strategies, while 54% reported insufficient resources.
The survey said this resource gap was forcing CMOs to make decisions about where to invest, what to deprioritise and how to reallocate existing resources toward capabilities that could create greater business impact.
AI maturity emerges as competitive differentiator
Gartner said marketing organisations with more advanced AI readiness capabilities also reported higher average marketing budgets, at 8.9% of company revenue, above the 2026 survey average of 7.8%.
McIntyre said AI maturity was beginning to separate marketing leaders from laggards.
“The most advanced CMOs are not simply spending more on AI,” he said. “They are creating the budget agility, innovation capacity and operating discipline needed to turn AI investment into measurable business impact.”
As AI becomes a larger share of marketing investment, Gartner said CMOs would need to ensure those investments are supported by the right operating model, governance, data foundations and talent.
“CMOs are being asked to deliver growth, efficiency and transformation without meaningful budget expansion,” McIntyre said. “Those who succeed will make deliberate, data-driven trade-offs and treat AI as a force multiplier.”
