TLDR
A survey of 126 Australian marketing leaders found 83 per cent stuck at early-to-mid AI maturity, with none reaching the top two of six capability levels. The Australian Centre for AI in Marketing is now taking the same diagnostic framework to the United States, with results to be presented at Georgetown University in late 2026.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What the Australian benchmark found and why the ceiling matters
Eighty-three per cent of Australian marketing organisations sit at the early-to-mid stages of AI maturity, and none of the 126 CMOs and senior marketing leaders surveyed reached either of the benchmark's top two levels.[1] That ceiling is worth sitting with. The most advanced Australian marketing teams are still mid-table on a six-level scale, even while they spend and experiment with AI tools.
The Australian Centre for AI in Marketing (ACAM), founded in 2025 by Louise Cummins, Jodie Sangster, Rochelle Tognetti and Douglas Nicol, built and published the research.[1] Kantar served as the Australian research partner, with IBM Australia also supporting the work; the findings are ACAM's own commissioned research and have not been independently replicated.[1]
The gap between AI spending and AI readiness goes well beyond Australia. Gartner's 2026 CMO Spend Survey found marketing leaders globally direct 15.3 per cent of their budgets to AI initiatives, yet only 30 per cent say their organisations are ready to scale those capabilities.[3] Ewan McIntyre, VP Analyst and Chief of Research at Gartner's marketing practice, said CMOs recognise AI's potential as a force multiplier for growth, efficiency and transformation, but most marketing organisations are not yet built to capture that value.[3]
How the six-level map and seven drivers work
ACAM's diagnostic framework maps organisations across six maturity levels and evaluates them against seven capability drivers: leadership and culture; skills and capability; governance, risk and brand; data and technology readiness; use cases and ROI; team design and workflow; and roadmap, planning and investment.[1] Each driver is a distinct pressure point where organisations can stall.
A team can have strong data infrastructure and still fall over on governance, or invest heavily in use cases without a roadmap to scale them. The seven-driver model gives CMOs a way to find the specific drag, rather than treating AI readiness as a single undifferentiated problem.
McIntyre said CMOs are being asked to deliver growth, efficiency and transformation without meaningful budget expansion.[3] A maturity map that pinpoints the specific capability gap is worth more in that context than a general directive to spend more on AI.
The US expansion and what Australian CMOs gain from it
ACAM is taking the benchmark to the United States as its first international market, launching the Global Centre for AI in Marketing in partnership with The CMO Syndicate.[2] The US study runs on the same diagnostic framework as the Australian research, making the results directly comparable.
That comparability is the practical value for Australian marketing leaders. The benchmark currently tells them where they stand relative to each other; once the US data comes in, they will know whether the ceiling is a local condition or a shared one, and by how much they lead or trail American counterparts on each of the seven drivers.
Georgetown University will host the US findings reveal in Q4 2026.[2] The Gartner data suggests US CMOs face the same structural tension: budgets directed at AI, readiness not keeping pace, with only 30 per cent ready to scale despite 15.3 per cent of spend already committed.[3]
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the ACAM AI in Marketing Benchmark?
Why did none of the surveyed organisations reach the top two maturity levels?
What does the US expansion mean for Australian marketing leaders?
James Dore is Strategy Director at Bushnote, a leader in SEO and AEO in Australia. He writes on search, AI and the technology decisions shaping government and industry.
