Marketing leaders are investing heavily in digital channels and customer acquisition as they seek to grow in an AI-driven market, underscoring how AI is reshaping budget priorities.
According to Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey, awareness and conversion activities now account for 62.6% of media spending, while digital media represents more than two-thirds of media investment. Spending on customer acquisition continues to rise, while investment in loyalty and retention has fallen by 29% since 2024 and now accounts for less than 15% of total media spend.
The findings, presented this week at the Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo in Denver, show that AI is influencing channel strategy and budget allocation. Gartner says improved personalization capabilities and the ability to optimize digital channels with AI are among the drivers of change.
However, Gartner analysts cautioned that the most mature AI organizations tend to take a different approach. Conversely, those companies tend to devote a larger portion of their budget to customer retention and a smaller share to digital channels than mature organizations.
“AI can help retailers improve faster, but efficiency is not the same as strategy,” said Ewan McIntyre, vice president, analyst and head of research at Gartner.
Investment in AI still depends on people
The study also challenges the assumption that AI automatically lowers labor costs.
The workforce share of the marketing budget increased from 21.9% in 2025 to 24.5% in 2026, suggesting that organizations are investing more in talent and workforce as they adopt AI. At the same time, 70% of CMOs say their marketing processes are not mature enough to effectively use and scale AI, while only 30% reported AI readiness capabilities are mature or fully developed.
A lack of in-house AI technology remains a major barrier to achieving AI-driven efficiencies, noted by 38% of marketing leaders.
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Consumers are very skeptical of AI content
While marketers continue to invest in AI, consumers are increasingly wary of its impact on content quality.
A separate survey by Gartner found that 49% of US consumers believe that artificial intelligence has made content quality worse. Among Gen Z and millennial consumers, that number rises to 57%. That points to a more skeptical media environment where brands have to work harder to earn credibility and trust.
“AI content is increasing the volume of media consumers experience, but not the value,” said Kate Muhl, vice president analyst at Gartner.
The challenge is compounded by changing media habits. Nearly six in 10 consumers surveyed said they prefer to engage with multiple media or technologies at once rather than focus on one task. For marketers, that means competing for increasingly fragmented attention while dealing with growing skepticism about AI-generated content.
