Marketing budgets, after several years of consistent decline, have levelled off, according to research by global consultancy Gartner.
However, CMOs still facing fiscal challenges are placing their bets on paid media channels and leaning into productivity tactics to navigate 2025’s choppy waters.
The number one way of countering budget constraints, the CMOs say, is to reduce spend with agencies.
Gartner’s 2025 CMO Spend Survey shows average marketing budgets are at 7.7% of company revenue for the second year in a row. However, half of CMOs reported budgets of 6% or less.
Flat growth is both good news and bad news for CMOs.
“While marketing budgets have stabilised, marketing spending has stalled at a level that falls short for many CMOs," said Ewan McIntyre, VP analyst and chief of research in Gartner Marketing Practice.
"Given the looming macroeconomic uncertainties, CMOs are now confronting the prospect of in-year budget cuts."
The CMO’s preferred (39%) way of saving budget is to eliminate underperforming agency relationships, simplify agency roster/portfolio and renegotiate contracts and scopes of work.
The spend survey showed CMOs are prioritising paid media allocations, which average nearly one-third (30.6%) of the marketing total budget.
Average allocations to talent, technology and agencies are reducing.
Digital channels dominate the media mix in 2025 with CMOs allocated nearly two-thirds of their channel budget to digital, with 69% of all digital spend pushed to paid channels.
Improving productivity is a priority in 2025, mixing data, technology and strategic know-how to squeeze more value from static budgets.
Gartner’s CMO Spend Survey was conducted early February to late March 2025.
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