By Aijaz Alam
What percentage of revenue do companies spend on marketing?
Companies spend 7.8% of their revenue on marketing on average in 2026, up from 7.7% in 2025, according to Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey of 401 marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe, mostly at firms with over $1 billion in revenue. The share was 9.5% in 2022, and 56% of CMOs say their budget falls short.
- 7.8%Marketing budget as a share of company revenueGartner, 2026, mostly large firms
- 15.3%Share of the marketing budget going to AIGartner, 2026
- 56%CMOs who lack the budget for their 2026 strategyGartner, 2026
- 79.2%Marketing teams expecting a bigger budget in 2026HubSpot, 2026, vendor survey
The numbers
The full breakdown
Marketing budgets and resources, Gartner CMO Spend Survey 2026
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Marketing budget, all respondents | 7.8% of revenue |
| Marketing budget, AI-ready marketing teams | 8.9% of revenue |
| Share of marketing budget going to AI, all respondents | 15.3% |
| Share of marketing budget going to AI, AI-ready teams | 21.3% |
| CMOs who lack the budget for their 2026 strategy | 56% |
| CMOs who report insufficient resources | 54% |
| CMOs reporting mature AI readiness | 30% |
| CMOs calling AI leadership a critical goal | 70% |
401 CMOs and marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe, surveyed January to March 2026; the vast majority at firms with over $1 billion in annual revenue.
How marketing teams expect budgets to change in 2026
| Measure | Share of marketing teams |
|---|---|
| Expect at least a slight increase over 2025 | 79.2% |
| Expect a significant increase | 21.2% |
| Expect a decrease | 6% |
| Say their budget gets more scrutiny than in the past | 73% |
HubSpot 2026 State of Marketing, over 1,500 marketers worldwide (vendor survey). These are budget changes in money, not as a share of revenue.
Where marketers plan to move money in 2026
| Channel | Plan | Share of marketers |
|---|---|---|
| AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude | Increase | 37.7% |
| Paid social media | Increase | 37.4% |
| Video marketing | Increase | 37.1% |
| Content marketing | Increase | 36.9% |
| Website, blog and SEO | Increase | 35.4% |
| Physical ads such as signage and billboards | Decrease | 23.3% |
| Direct mail | Decrease | 21.6% |
| Print advertising | Decrease | 21.4% |
HubSpot 2026 State of Marketing, the five channels most often named for an increase and the three most often named for a decrease.
Over time
Marketing budget as a share of company revenue, Gartner survey by year
| Survey year | Budget, share of revenue | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6.4% | Not stated |
| 2022 | 9.5% | 405 |
| 2023 | 9.1% | 410 |
| 2024 | 7.7% | 395 |
| 2025 | 7.7% | 402 |
| 2026 | 7.8% | 401 |
Gartner CMO Spend Survey, published each May. Mostly large firms in North America and Europe; the 2021 value is as reported in the 2022 release.
Why sources differ
Same question, different answers
| Number | When | Who measured | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.8% | 2026 | Gartner CMO Spend Survey | Average across 401 marketing leaders, mostly at firms with over $1 billion in revenue |
| 8.9% | 2026 | Gartner CMO Spend Survey | Only the marketing teams Gartner counts as AI-ready |
| 9.5% | 2022 | Gartner CMO Spend Survey | Same survey in the rebound year after the pandemic |
| 6.4% | 2021 | Gartner CMO Spend Survey | Same survey at the pandemic low |
Marketing budget figures differ mainly because of who is asked. Gartner's survey covers about 400 marketing leaders a year, almost all at companies with over $1 billion in revenue in North America and Europe. Big firms spread fixed costs over a large revenue base, so their share can be lower than a young or small company that is still buying its first customers. Surveys of smaller US firms, and advice pages that give a rule of thumb, are answering a different question and should not be read as the same measure. Definitions matter too. Gartner's budget covers everything marketing spends, including staff, agencies and technology, not only paid media, so an ad-spend share would be smaller. Finally, Gartner reports an average, and its own split shows how wide the range is: AI-ready teams spend 8.9% of revenue against 7.8% for all respondents. Even within one survey the figure has moved from 6.4% to 9.5% and back to 7.8% in five years.
What it means
How to use these numbers
Large companies spend a little under 8 cents of every revenue dollar on marketing, and that share has been flat at 7.7% to 7.8% for three years. It is well below the 9.5% recorded in 2022 and has not returned there since.
The money inside that flat budget is moving. On average 15.3% now goes to AI, and 21.3% at the teams Gartner rates as AI-ready. Marketers say they will put more into AI chatbots, paid social and video, and less into billboards, direct mail and print. Budgets are also under more pressure: 56% of CMOs say they lack the money for their strategy, and 73% of marketing teams in HubSpot's survey say spending gets more scrutiny than before.
For a small business, Gartner's 7.8% is a reference point from big firms, not a target. Start from your growth goals and margins, then measure what each channel brings in. For journalists, write 7.8% of revenue among mostly large firms in North America and Europe, and name Gartner and the year.
Method and sources
How it was measured
Method
- Publisher
- Gartner: CMO Spend Survey 2026; HubSpot: 2026 State of Marketing
- Sample
- Gartner: 401 CMOs and marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe, January to March 2026, the vast majority at firms with over $1 billion in annual revenue. HubSpot: over 1,500 marketers worldwide (vendor survey).
- Definition
- Gartner: total marketing budget, including paid media, technology, staff and agencies, as a share of company revenue, averaged across respondents.
- Released
- Gartner press release 11 May 2026; HubSpot summary updated 10 April 2026
- Checked at source
- HubSpot on 31 October 2026. Gartner's release could not be opened on 31 October 2026, so its figures are from the repo's stats verified on gartner.com on 23 October 2026.
- Next release
- Gartner CMO Spend Survey 2027, usually published in May
- Last changed
- 31 Oct 2026
- Data files
- CSV · JSON (stable links)
Sources
- Gartner newsroom, Gartner, Inc. Research
- HubSpot State of Marketing 2026, HubSpot Vendor data
Change log
- 11 May 20267.8% Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey (401 leaders).
- 12 May 20257.7% Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey (402 leaders).
Cite this page
APA
MLA
HTML link
FAQ
More questions people ask
How much should a small business spend on marketing?
There is no measured benchmark for small firms in this data. Gartner's 7.8% comes from mostly large companies, so use it as a reference, and set your budget from your growth goals and margins.
Are marketing budgets growing in 2026?
In money, most teams expect a rise: 79.2% in HubSpot's survey expect at least a slight increase. As a share of revenue, Gartner finds them flat at 7.8%, against 7.7% in 2025.
How much of the marketing budget goes to AI?
15.3% on average in 2026, and 21.3% at the marketing teams Gartner rates as AI-ready.
Why was the share higher in 2022?
Gartner's 2022 survey found 9.5% as budgets rebounded after the 2021 pandemic low of 6.4%. The share fell to 7.7% by 2024 and has barely moved since.
Every number on this page was checked at its original source (Gartner, Inc., HubSpot). Free to cite with a link to this page.