Strategic insights for chief communications officers to prioritize AI and optimize budget efficiency.
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Benchmark Your Communications Budget
Nearly half of leaders report reductions in their budget due to companywide cost cutting initiatives.
Communications leaders face increasing pressure to do more with less—while the stakes for AI investment, analytics maturity, and enterprise reputation continue to rise.
Download the 2026 Communications Budget Report to:
- Analyze the communications budget trends and allocation
- Identify AI and tech investments that deliver measurable value
- Benchmark readiness for reputation, crisis, and risk
About Communications Budget
Chief Communications Officers (CCOs) are supporting organizations through ongoing business transformation while operating within increasingly disciplined budget environments. As AI adoption accelerates and stakeholder expectations evolve in a lower‑trust landscape, CCOs are reassessing how resources are allocated to ensure communications capabilities are aligned with enterprise transformation priorities.
At the same time, CCOs are balancing investments in core business support with efforts to modernize the communications function. Benchmarking current budget allocations and planned investment trends helps leaders make informed trade‑offs, identify opportunities to strengthen AI and analytics capabilities, and reinforce the role of communications as a strategic enabler of business transformation.
Communications Budget FAQs
What is a communications budget?
A communications budget is the allocation of financial resources dedicated to an organization's internal and external communication efforts, to achieve strategic goals.
How to build an efficient communication budget?
Chief communications officers can use the Gartner 2026 Trends in Communications Budget to compare with industry standards, assess resourcing decisions, and advocate for necessary funding to align with strategic objectives amid rising AI pressure.