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And after a preliminary jump in 2025, the portion of people investing $45,000 or more every month is holding strong: When looking at different industries, specifically, we saw that nearly one-third (30%) of B2B content online marketers spend less than $5,000 each month, compared to 26% of B2C online marketers. Otherwise, despite the reality that they're very different markets, there isn't a significant distinction in their budget plans.
Around 1 in 6 (16%) content online marketers whose industries are both B2C and B2B invest $45,000 or more each month, compared to just 10% of B2C and 10% of B2B online marketers. Despite algorithm modifications and a rapidly changing content industry, material marketing is plainly still earning money. What's more, the data reveals that the widespread usage of AI hasn't led to diminishing content budgets.
All of us understand that you can't put a keyword-stuffed post on your site and wait on the clicks to roll in any longer. Today, you can't invest all your focus going after Google's algorithm, either. Between LLM search results and off-page SEO, companies and marketers alike are leaning toward larger budget plans and excellent skill to discover new ways to get their brands observed.
Today, 21% of material marketers contract out somewhere between three-quarters to 100% of their content budget plan, up from just 5% last year. Still, most commonly, 26% of content marketers just contract out about a quarter to half of their content budget plan, a percentage that hasn't altered drastically given that 2023. Another 14% don't outsource any of their content budget plan at all, however that's really down from 29% in 2023: While teams with tight budget plans often outsource work to reasonably cost effective freelancers, a few of this growth can be associated to people with larger budget plans who need more hands to assist them meet deadlines.

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More than 1 in 4 (27%) outsource someplace between three-quarters to 100% of their content budget plan, compared to only 20% of B2B online marketers and 16% of B2C marketers. Theoretically, contracting out material and analysis to AI could conserve cash and improve material marketers' revenue margins. While AI use is now nearly universal in marketing, many are still offering their work a human touch.
Web 2.0 postIn 2023, only 65% of material online marketers stated they planned to utilize AI content generation tools, and 17% said they didn't strategy to utilize them at all. The percentage of content marketing programs that use AI rose from 83% in 2024 to 90% in 2025.

However, that does not imply that material today goes straight from ChatGPT to a CMS with no oversight. Many frequently, 48% of content online marketers say their program uses a moderate quantity of AI. Simply put, AI touches about 11% to 40% of their work: All in all, just 1% of content online marketers state their work is 100% AI.
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Content always requires a human touch to make sure accuracy and to keep the variety of em-dashes to a minimum. When we say content marketers are using AI, we don't just suggest they're utilizing ChatGPT for whatever. Don't be misinterpreted more than three-quarters (80%) of content online marketers say ChatGPT is the most dependable and credible tool for material marketing.
Nevertheless, after numerous years as an undisputed market leader, ChatGPT now has some competition. However it's no longer the only reputable AI on the market. The portion of people who state Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini are the most reliable LLMs has actually approximately doubled YoY (From 28% to 55% for Claude and from 16% to 44% for Gemini).
Some individuals have specifically soured on ChatGPT.
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We've found that individuals often use AI at the really beginning and the very end of producing content, not during detailing or writing copy. The percentage of individuals utilizing AI for conceptualizing and outlining fell from 72% in 2025 to 61% in 2026, and the portion of individuals utilizing it to prepare content fell from 57% to 44%.
And 74% usage it for content ideation. Normally, content marketers are more flexible with utilizing AI for design and research. Almost half (47%) of participants use it for generating design concepts, up from 25% in 2025. And 55% use it for technique brainstorming, such as crafting audience personalities. That's up from 42% in 2025.