CMOs stretch static budgets further, with downsides for agencies: report

Dive Brief:

• CMOs expect their budgets to stay flat in 2025, though macroeconomic uncertainty could lead to in-year cuts, according to Gartner’s latest survey of the C-suite position.    
• Budgets for the position remain at 7.7% of total company revenue, the same figure tracked by the researcher in 2024, while marketing spending has stalled. That said, CMOs are improving efficiency with tools like generative artificial intelligence (AI).    
• Paid media is still the top spending bucket, at over 30% of CMO budgets, while more marketers are seeking to cut back on advertising agencies and labor, partly due to the benefits of AI. Agencies are already facing a year of contraction that could be worsened if brands further retreat.   

Dive Insight:

Despite plateauing resources, many CMOs are stretching their budgets further as they get a better handle on tools like generative AI, a trend that could send wider shocks through the marketing ecosystem. While 59% of CMOs believe they have insufficient funds to deliver on their 2025 agendas, that figure marks a five percentage-point drop from 2024, underpinning some renewed confidence for the C-suite appointment. That said, the outlook for marketers could change quickly depending on how the economy swings amid a global trade war.

“Given the looming macroeconomic uncertainties, CMOs are now confronting the prospect of in-year budget cuts,” said Ewan McIntyre, vice president analyst and chief of research for Gartner’s marketing practice, in comments attached to the research. 

Among the top benefits of generative AI, nearly half (49%) of CMOs see greater time efficiency while 40% say the same for benefits in reducing cost. Twenty-seven percent of respondents to Gartner pointed to the ability to produce greater volumes of content or handle other areas of business. Only 1% of CMOs are not making the emergent technology a priority.

“CMOs are leveraging data analytics and technology, particularly AI, in order to squeeze more from static budgets,” said McIntyre.

Gains with generative AI could spell bad news for marketing services providers, as over one-fifth (22%) of CMOs believe the technology has reduced a reliance on external partners for creative and strategy building. As a result, 39% of CMOs plan to trim agency budgets either through eliminating unproductive relationships, streamlining rosters or renegotiating contracts and scopes of work. The same share of marketing chiefs are angling to cut costs on labor through simplification or headcount reductions. 

Agencies, with few expectations, are already grappling with low levels of organic growth and the potential for tariffs to reduce ad spending in the near term, factors that could throw gas on the fire for category consolidation.   

Gartner conducted its latest CMO spend report between February and March, surveying 402 CMOs and marketing decision-markers across North America, the U.K. and Europe.