15 Marketing ROI Statistics

Marketing budgets averaged 7.8 percent of overall company revenue in 2026, up slightly from 7.7 percent in 2025.

This is the benchmark for how much firms spend on marketing relative to revenue. Budgets remain well below the roughly 11 percent seen before the pandemic.

Marketing budgets fell from 9.1 percent of company revenue in 2023 to 7.7 percent in 2024 and 2025.

Budgets contracted sharply over two years and then flattened. ROI scrutiny rose precisely because there is less money to allocate.

Digital channels accounted for 61.1 percent of total marketing spend.

Most marketing money now flows to measurable digital channels. That shift is what makes channel-level ROI comparison practical for more teams.

Paid online channels led the digital mix, accounting for 69 percent of total digital spend.

Paid media dominates digital budgets. That concentration is why paid-channel ROI, not owned or earned, decides most marketing outcomes.

Paid search was the leading digital channel, rising from 13.6 percent to 13.9 percent of total digital spend year over year.

Search remains the largest single digital line. Its measurability is part of why it holds the top share even as budgets tighten.

Digital display advertising grew 17 percent year over year to 12.5 percent of digital spend, overtaking social advertising for second place.

Display reclaimed share from social. Channel ranks shift year to year, so an ROI plan built on last year's mix can misallocate budget.

Social advertising held its share at 12.2 percent of total digital spend.

Social spend is steady rather than growing. For ROI planning, it is a mature channel where gains come from efficiency, not more budget.

Budget allocations to owned and earned channels fell 9 percent year over year, with email the exception.

Owned and earned media lost ground while paid grew. Email's resilience reflects its consistently strong measured return relative to cost.

CMOs allocated an average of 15.3 percent of marketing budgets to AI initiatives in 2026.

AI is now a sizable, distinct line in marketing budgets. Its return is still unproven for most teams, which raises the ROI stakes on that spend.

Although 70 percent of CMOs called becoming an AI leader a critical goal for 2026, only 30 percent reported mature AI readiness.

Ambition far outruns capability on AI. Spending ahead of readiness is a common way marketing ROI leaks before any return appears.

39 percent of CMOs sought to reduce spending on labor, with top actions including simplifying overlapping roles and cutting headcount.

Labor is the line most CMOs target for cuts. Marketing ROI math increasingly hinges on doing the same work with a smaller team.

In 2023, 71 percent of CMOs said they lacked sufficient budget to fully execute their strategy.

Most marketing leaders feel under-resourced. That constraint is the practical reason ROI per dollar, not total spend, became the deciding metric.

Marketing budgets climbed from 6.4 percent of company revenue in 2021 to 9.5 percent in 2022 before falling back.

The post-pandemic budget swing was large in both directions. ROI benchmarks set in a peak year can mislead when budgets later contract.

The Gartner 2026 CMO Spend Survey was conducted from January to March 2026 among 401 CMOs and marketing leaders in North America, the UK, and Europe.

The figures here come from a structured survey of senior marketing decision-makers, not a vendor blog. That is what makes the budget benchmarks usable.

In the four years before the pandemic, average marketing budgets ran about 11 percent of overall company revenue.

Today's 7.8 percent is well below the pre-pandemic norm. Marketing is being asked to deliver similar results on a structurally smaller budget.