Over a quarter of CMOs hired this year have AI skills. Only 9% of those hired four years ago did. Just 11% of CMOs say their firms excel at adopting new marketing tech. Three in four senior marketing leaders plan to spend more on AI assistants next year. AI now takes 15% to 21% of marketing budgets. CMO tenure has fallen 35% since 2010. Nearly one-third of S&P 500 firms have no CMO at all. Many now combine marketing with other functions like sales. Only 23% of consumers trust AI recommendations. 56% of CMOs doubt their budgets can fund 2026 plans. The figures come from Findem, CMO Huddles, Lippincott, Bloomberg Media, Kantar and Gartner.

• 26% of new CMOs have AI skills
• 11% rate tech adoption as excellent
• 75% plan to raise AI assistant spend
• 15.3% to 21.3% of budgets on AI