CMOs Tune Into Audio As Gartner Survey Shows Digital Marketing Dominates Budgets.

The annual Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey shows digital is playing a bigger role in their marketing budgets, with audio among the channels that is getting the most attention. The survey finds digital channels now account for 61.1% of total marketing spend, with paid online channels, like podcasts and streaming audio, leading the digital mix, accounting for 69% of total digital spending.

The CMOs surveyed report that they will put 7.5% of their total marketing spending into podcast and digital audio channels this year. That is a bigger share than will go to the must buzzed-about retail media networks or digital outdoor advertising. Paid search is the leading digital channel, increasing its share year-over-year from 13.6% to 13.9% of total digital spend. Digital display advertising has overtaken social advertising for the second spot, growing by 17% year-over-year to 12.5%. Social advertising maintains its budget share at 12.2%, reflecting its continued importance in the digital mix.

Despite the growth in digital channels, budget allocations to owned and earned channels have decreased 9% year-to-year with email being the exception. The survey finds email marketing remains resilient, experiencing a marginal increase and accounting for 7.4% of total digital spending for 2025.

The annual Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey of 402 CMOs and other marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe was conducted between February and March. It shows the dominance of digital marketing is reshaping strategies across industries, with seven out of 10 sectors dedicating more than 60% of their budgets to online channels.

“The increasing allocation towards digital channels reflects a strategic pivot as CMOs recognize the need to adapt to rapidly changing consumer behaviors and technological advancements,” said Ewan McIntyre, VP Analyst and Chief of Research in Gartner Marketing Practice. “With Google’s postponement of cookie deprecation, the rise of GenAI, and uncertainties surrounding TikTok’s future, marketers are navigating a dynamic digital landscape to keep their strategies effective and impactful.”

While search advertising remains the top pick, particularly for conversion and pre-purchase touchpoints, Gartner says video and streaming have slipped in impact rankings due to platform saturation and targeting challenges.

Gartner also says that traditional media isn’t out of the mix entirely. It points to broadcast TV as still attracting a large amount of spending despite ranking lower in perceived impact when compared to digital channels. It says industries with significant allocations to linear TV still view it as an effective awareness generator.

“As CMOs maneuver the evolving channel landscape, strategic implications of multichannel plans become paramount,” said McIntyre. “Budget challenges and channel volatility will continue to shape priorities, emphasizing the need for performance-driven strategies.”

The annual survey also shows that CMOs report that their marketing budgets for 2025 remain flat at 7.7% of overall company revenue. That is consistent with last year, when marketing budgets represented 7.7% of overall company revenue. Most wish that they had more to work with as 59% of CMOs report they have insufficient budgets to execute their strategies in 2025, down five points since 2024.

“While marketing budgets have stabilized, marketing spending has stalled at a level that falls short for many CMOs,” said McIntyre. “Given the looming macroeconomic uncertainties, CMOs are now confronting the prospect of in-year budget cuts.”

Gartner says paid media continues to dominate marketing spend, accounting for 30.6% of marketing budgets or 2.4% of company revenue. However, media price inflation means CMOs are getting less for every dollar spent.

Although budgets have failed to grow year-on-year, marketing leaders appear to be using their funds in a more productive way. Top actions taken to boost productivity include leveraging data and analytics to optimize performance and harnessing technology such as AI to automate key tasks.

The survey shows that GenAI investments are delivering ROI through improved time efficiency (49%), improved cost efficiency (40%) and improving capacity to produce more content and/or handle more business (27%). Just 1% of CMOs said GenAI investments are not currently a priority. As CMOs benefit from AI-driven productivity gains, the survey data shows many are making cuts to labor and agencies. Nearly a quarter (22%) of CMOs said GenAI has enabled them to reduce their reliability on external agencies for creativity and strategy building.

“With limited funds, marketing leaders are boosting productivity in order to drive growth,” said McIntyre. “CMOs are leveraging data analytics and technology, particularly AI, in order to squeeze more from static budgets.”