“An open, transparent place where CMOs help each other become better at what they do.”
Yannick Kpodar, CMO, Groupe BPCE Payments
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You're not imagining it. Marketing got harder.
You're expected to deliver growth, innovation, and ROI, often with fewer resources and more scrutiny. This report arms you with the benchmarks, frameworks, and peer insights you need to lead with conviction and silence the doubters in the boardroom.
Brought to you by AirOps, this report gives you an honest look at how 300+ marketing leaders are funding growth, reshaping teams, and navigating higher targets, often while doing more with less. Use these insights to benchmark your strategy, spot hidden gaps, and make decisions that drive measurable impact.
Marketing Leaders Reality Index
Get unfiltered insights from 300+ marketing executives and uncover what’s actually happening inside their organizations. This isn’t the polished version you see on LinkedIn. They gave us the real story on budgets, headcount, AI adoption, and channel performance.
Some key findings:
- 86.6% are prioritizing AI search.
- 75.4% got higher pipeline or revenue targets.
- Only 43.0% got a bigger budget to hit them.
- Only 23% feel confident measuring it.
This report follows the pressure marketing execs face from business targets into channel performance, AI capability, attribution, and team structure.
Marketing teams are being rebuilt: are you ready?
The biggest finding? Marketing teams are being quietly rebuilt from the ground up. Today’s leaders are squeezed by higher revenue targets, tighter budgets, and rapidly shifting team structures.Â
The teams pulling ahead aren't just spending more, they're operating differently. Instead of relying solely on bigger budgets or higher headcount, high-performing teams are actively updating their KPIs, shifting their channel mix, and building internal AI capability.Â
Get the data you need to benchmark your strategy, spot hidden gaps, and make decisions that drive noticeable impact.
What you’ll discover
The KPIs that actually matter in 2026. 71.2% of high-growth teams have officially changed their performance metrics. Discover which traditional scorecards are losing ground and how market leaders are rewriting theirs to prove real impact.
Budget growth doesn't guarantee headcount. Nearly 4 in 10 teams with higher budgets didn't add a single role. Discover what top leaders are spending those extra dollars on instead.
Just 7.4% of leaders rate their AI adoption as advanced. Get the real numbers on where execs deploy AI, its actual capacity boost, and the hidden effort needed for a quality pipeline.
Only 43.0% of teams received a budget increase to meet higher targets. Pipeline expectations are climbing while funding stays flat. Discover how top execs navigate steep goals with fewer resources.
**Where the budget is going (and what’s getting cut). **Resource allocation has shifted sharply. See why teams are slashing agency spend and moving dollars into high-performing, non-paid channels.
Why 41.0% of standard marketing teams are watching organic site traffic fall, while high-growth teams have managed to shield themselves from the drop.
What marketing leaders wish they could say out loud. Candid, unvarnished insights on the hidden trade-offs of testing new platforms, managing AI output quality, and navigating board-level expectations.
47.7% of marketing orgs are actively cutting agency spend. Resource allocation has shifted dramatically across the board. Get the complete breakdown of where leaders are pulling back and how they're reallocating those dollars into high-performing channels.
The AI measurement blind spot. Nearly 90% of teams prioritize AI search, yet tracking ROI remains a struggle. Find out why this gap exists and how teams are closing it.
Get yours now
It costs nothing to read, but it’ll change how you plan your next quarter. Get instant access to the exact metrics, AI strategies, and org shifts top-performing teams are using to stay ahead.
