Content marketing has entered a tighter, more measurable era. Budgets are being scrutinized, distribution is getting harder, and AI is changing production workflows faster than most teams can formalize rules for it. Here is a list of the most meaningful statistics to be aware of moving into the new year.
Budget and staffing outlook statistics
Budget decisions set the ceiling for what content teams can realistically ship and promote. They also signal how much leadership believes content can drive pipeline, retention, or brand strength.
- 45% of B2B marketers plan to increase investment in AI-powered marketing tools in 2026. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 33% plan to increase investment in events and experiential marketing in 2026. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 32% plan to increase investment in owned media (content assets, website, blog, email) in 2026. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 25% plan to increase investment in paid media in 2026. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 21% plan to increase investment in tech infrastructure (martech stack, analytics, CRM) in 2026. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 9% plan to increase investment in human resources (salaries, training, development) in 2026. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- In 2025, 11.4% of content marketers plan to spend over $45,000 per month (up from 4.1% in 2024). Source: Siege Media
B2B strategy and execution statistics
B2B content lives or dies on clarity and alignment. When goals are fuzzy or production is chaotic, even strong writing struggles to translate into leads, influence, or sales momentum.
- A significant 66.5% of content marketers struggle with knowing where to allocate resources, suggesting a gap in strategic clarity. Source: Siege Media.
- 97% of B2B marketers report having a content strategy. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 61% say their content strategy improved over the last 12 months (13% significantly, 48% somewhat). Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 40% list “creating content that prompts a desired action” as a top content marketing challenge. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 39% list resource constraints (time, people, budget) as a top content marketing challenge. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 64% of target buyers average more than one hour per week consuming thought leadership (hidden buyers: 63%). Source: LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
AI content marketing statistics
AI is becoming part of the baseline toolkit, but governance is lagging. The gap between “people using it” and “teams using it well” is now one of the main operational risks in content.
- 95% of B2B marketers say their organizations use AI-powered applications. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 89% use AI for content creation tools that generate or optimize marketing copy and written content. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 53% use AI for creative asset tools (generating or editing images, videos, and visual materials). Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 41% use AI-powered SEO tools for analyzing search patterns, recommending keywords, optimizing content, or predicting ranking improvements. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- Among B2B marketers using AI for content creation, 87% say productivity has improved. Source: Content Marketing Institute.
- 63% of video marketers say they have used AI tools to create or edit marketing videos. Source: Wyzowl
Video and multimedia content statistics
Video has turned into the default format for many awareness and conversion paths, especially on social platforms. It is also one of the quickest ways to test positioning because feedback loops are fast.
- 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool (2026). Source: Wyzowl.
- 93% of video marketers say video is an important part of their marketing strategy (2026). Source: Wyzowl.
- 69% of video marketers have created social media videos (2026). Source: Wyzowl.
- 59% of businesses create videos in-house (2026). Source: Wyzowl.
- 32% create videos using a mix of in-house and outsourced production (2026). Source: Wyzowl.
- 10% outsource all video production to an external agency or creator (2026). Source: Wyzowl.
SEO and content discoverability statistics
Search still matters, but the click supply is shrinking and shifting to platforms inside Google’s ecosystem. Content teams need to plan for fewer “free” clicks and treat search visibility as more than a rankings game.
- In the U.S., traditional search usage was 10.55% versus 0.55% for AI tools (Q1 2025 desktop web behavior, Datos and SparkToro reporting via Search Engine Land). Source: Search Engine Land.
- In the EU and UK, traditional search usage was 10.25% versus 0.71% for AI tools (Q1 2025 desktop web behavior). Source: Search Engine Land.
- 40.3% of U.S. Google searchers clicked an organic result in March 2025 (down from 44.2% in March 2024). Source: Search Engine Land.
- 43.5% of EU/UK Google searchers clicked an organic result in March 2025 (down from 47.10% in March 2024). Source: Search Engine Land.
- In March 2025, 27.2% of U.S. searches ended without a click (up from 24.4% in March 2024). Source: Search Engine Land.
- In March 2025, 14.3% of U.S. Google searches resulted in clicks to Google-owned properties like YouTube or Maps (up from 12.1% a year earlier). Source: Search Engine Land.
- The top two frustrations among content marketers in 2025 are getting content to rank (77.6%) and meeting user/search intent (70.6%). Source: Siege Media
- Of those doing link building in 2025, only 21.4% say manual outreach is their main strategy (down from 38.2% in 2024). Source: Siege Media
Measurement and ROI statistics
Content marketing tends to fail quietly when measurement is weak. When teams cannot connect content to outcomes, budgets become easier to cut, and strategy becomes reactive.
- 44.4% of marketers using interactive content report a mildly or very successful strategy, compared to 39.9% of those who do not invest in interactive content. Source: Siege Media.
- 35% of marketing leaders report earning $10 to $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing (State of Email 2025). Source: Litmus.
- 30% report earning $36 to $50 for every $1 spent on email marketing. Source: Litmus.
- 5% report earning more than $50 for every $1 spent on email marketing. Source: Litmus.
- 21% of marketing leaders say they do not measure email ROI (down from 36% in 2023). Source: Litmus.
- 41% measure email marketing’s contribution using direct revenue attribution. Source: Litmus.
Conclusion
If you had to summarize 2025 to early 2026 in one sentence, it is that content marketing is still growing, but it is getting harder to win with sloppy operations. The best teams are treating content like a system, with defined workflows, stricter measurement, and distribution plans that acknowledge fewer organic clicks and more platform capture.
