Jasper has released its 2026 State of AI in Marketing Report, highlighting the rapid evolution of AI from experimental tool to core operational infrastructure in marketing teams. The survey of 1,400 marketers shows near-universal adoption and a decisive shift toward scaling, governance, and measurable impact, with new challenges emerging around accountability, quality control, and proving ROI.
Quick Intel
The report captures a pivotal inflection point: AI is no longer a question of "if" but "how" it integrates into the marketing operating model. While early 2025 focused on evaluation and experimentation, 2026 is defined by operationalization—scaling responsibly, governing effectively, and demonstrating tangible business value amid rising enterprise expectations.
Scaling high-quality content has emerged as the dominant priority, reflecting teams' need to move beyond one-off pilots toward consistent, repeatable execution across campaigns, personalization, localization, and compliance. This shift underscores AI's transition from efficiency booster to strategic execution capability.
Proving ROI has grown more challenging, not due to weaker performance but because expectations have risen significantly. Among those who measure it, most see strong returns (2x+), highlighting a clear value gap between leaders who track outcomes rigorously and those still struggling to quantify impact.
Governance friction—particularly from legal, compliance, and brand reviews—has become the leading blocker to scale, surging 3.4x year-over-year. This reflects the maturation of AI use cases into higher-stakes, enterprise-critical workflows where quality and risk management are non-negotiable.
A notable divide appears between CMOs and individual contributors. CMOs report higher maturity, satisfaction, and confidence in ROI (61% can prove it), while frontline marketers face increased pressure and lower visibility into outcomes (only 12% confident). This gap signals the need for clearer ownership, structure, and communication as AI becomes mandatory in daily roles.
Job satisfaction remains high overall (75% say AI improved it), especially among teams most impacted by AI—provided there is strong governance, defined ownership, and support. One in three marketers now has AI-specific responsibilities embedded in their role, spanning prompt engineering, workflow design, and governance oversight.
"AI is no longer just about efficiency gains. Treating AI like core marketing infrastructure is what separates leaders from laggards," said Loreal Lynch, CMO at Jasper. "With adoption now table stakes, the advantage is shifting to organizations that run AI with clear ownership, disciplined governance, and meaningful measurement."
"At Jasper, we are focused on helping marketers turn AI into a durable competitive advantage, not just a short-term efficiency gain," said Timothy Young, CEO of Jasper. "This research reinforces that success with AI now depends on how well teams operationalize it, with the right governance, structure, and measurement in place as AI becomes central to how marketing organizations drive growth."
The full 2026 State of AI in Marketing Report is available for download.
About Jasper Jasper is the marketing agents platform, built to help enterprises orchestrate AI agents that execute marketing work at scale. Purpose-built for marketing teams, Jasper enables faster, more consistent execution across campaigns, personalization, localization, and compliance—while maintaining enterprise-grade control and governance. Jasper is trusted by hundreds of enterprises worldwide, including Prudential, Cushman & Wakefield, Wayfair, and nearly 20% of the Fortune 500. Founded in 2021, Jasper has team members across the U.S., Australia, and France.
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