STATISTICS

Social media marketing statistics for 2026

Social media ad revenue in the US reached $117.7 billion in 2025, up 32.6 percent and 40.0 percent of all digital ad revenue, according to IAB and PwC. US marketing leaders in The CMO Survey spend 14.3 percent of their marketing budgets on social media in 2026 and expect 17.1 percent within a year. Gartner found marketing budgets at 7.8 percent of company revenue in 2026, with 15.3 percent of marketing budgets going to AI, and 94 percent of social media marketers in HubSpot's 2026 survey use AI in their workflows.

Compiled by the Zolyp team · Every figure checked against its source on

Advertising revenue

What advertisers spend on social media, from the US industry's annual revenue report and Meta's latest results.

Marketing budgets

Two large surveys of marketing leaders. The CMO Survey asked 308 leaders at US for-profit companies in January 2026; Gartner surveyed 401 CMOs in North America, the UK and Europe from January to March 2026, mostly at companies with revenue over $1 billion.

AI in marketing

How quickly marketing teams are adopting AI, from the same surveys.

What social media teams report

From HubSpot's 2026 survey of more than 1,100 social media professionals worldwide.

What this means for a small business

  • Advertisers keep moving money into social media, which means more competition in feeds. Organic posts have to be genuinely useful or entertaining to be seen.
  • Most marketers now use AI, mainly for ideas and first drafts. Use it the same way, then add the real details, photos and voice that only your business has.
  • Authentic, human content beats polish. Phone video of your real work, staff and customers is often enough.
  • Proving results is hard for everyone. Pick one or two business outcomes, such as enquiries or bookings, and track them every month instead of chasing likes.
  • Treat budget forecasts with care: marketers have consistently expected to spend more on social media than they actually did.

Knowing where your customers are is half of it; the other half is posting there every week. Make a post with the free generator or let Zolyp plan and write the week for you.

Common questions

How much do businesses spend on social media marketing?

US marketing leaders in The CMO Survey spend 14.3 percent of their marketing budgets on social media in 2026 and expect 17.1 percent in a year. Consumer services companies spend the most (26.7 percent), energy companies the least (6.0 percent).

How big is social media advertising?

US social media ad revenue was $117.7 billion in 2025, up 32.6 percent and 40.0 percent of all US digital ad revenue, according to IAB and PwC. That made social the largest digital ad category, just ahead of search at $114.2 billion.

How many marketers use AI for social media?

94 percent of social media marketers in HubSpot's 2026 survey use AI in their workflows in some capacity, mostly for ideas, captions and images. The CMO Survey found 73.9 percent of companies use AI for content creation.

What percentage of revenue is spent on marketing?

Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey puts marketing budgets at 7.8 percent of company revenue, mostly among companies with more than $1 billion in revenue. The CMO Survey puts it at 9.0 percent for US companies in 2026.

Cite this page

You're welcome to use these figures. Please cite the original source shown under each one, and link to this page if it helped: Zolyp, “Social media marketing statistics for 2026”, updated 15 October 2026, https://www.zolyp.com/statistics/social-media-marketing-statistics

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