Marketing budgets are flat at 7.8%. Plan 2027 around that
Gartner puts 2026 marketing budgets at 7.8% of revenue, with 15.3% going to AI. In 2027, money for new work has to come from the budget you already have.
Plan 2027 as if the marketing budget will not grow, because for most companies it won't. Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey puts marketing budgets at 7.8% of company revenue, against 7.7% in 2025. That is flat for any practical purpose. The new work CMOs are being asked to do, starting with AI, has to be paid for by moving money that is already in the plan.
What did the 2026 numbers show?
Gartner surveyed 401 CMOs and marketing leaders between January and March 2026. Three numbers matter for planning:
- 7.8% of revenue goes to marketing, up from 7.7% the year before.
- 15.3% of the marketing budget now goes to AI on average. Organizations Gartner rates as AI-ready put 21.3% there.
- 30% of CMOs describe their AI readiness as mature. About 70% say their internal processes aren't ready to scale it.
Put those together and the picture is plain. AI is taking a growing share of a budget that isn't growing, and most teams can't yet show what it returns.
Where does the money for 2027 come from?
From the parts of the budget nobody has reopened in a while. The same four places come up in almost every review we run:
- Agency fees that no longer match the scope. A retainer set two or three years ago often pays for a team that has since shrunk or changed. We covered the pricing side in how much a mid-market company should pay its media agency.
- Media costs you can't fully see. Platform fees, data fees and principal-based buying sit between the budget and the working media. See principal media, explained for the people who sign the invoices.
- Overlapping tools. Martech and AI licenses bought by different teams to do the same job.
- Production and content costs paid asset by asset, with nobody tracking the total.
None of this is a cut to marketing. It is the same budget doing more of the work the plan needs.
What should the CFO and CMO agree before the budget locks?
Three things. First, a baseline: what was spent in 2026 by agency, platform and tool, in one view. Second, a rule for new AI spend: every line gets an owner, a cap and a measure of what it returns. Third, a date to check agency scopes against what was delivered, before renewal rather than after.
That conversation goes better when the CMO brings it to the CFO, not the other way round. We wrote about why in the CFO is in the marketing meeting now.
Where to start
If the 2027 plan is due and the agency and media lines haven't been checked against scope, start there. An Agency Health Check looks at fees against scope and at who is working on your account. A Diagnostic covers the whole marketing cost base in four weeks. For a single agency proposal or contract, a Second Opinion gives you a written answer in five business days.
Sources: Gartner, 2026 CMO Spend Survey, May 2026.
How much of revenue do companies spend on marketing in 2026?
Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey puts the average at 7.8% of company revenue, up from 7.7% in 2025.
How much of the marketing budget goes to AI?
Gartner reports an average of 15.3% of the marketing budget, and 21.3% at organizations it rates as AI-ready.
Where can a CMO find budget for AI without cutting programs?
Usually in agency fees that no longer match scope, media costs that are hard to see, overlapping tools and untracked production costs.
Practical notes on agencies, media, software and vendor cost.
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