Marketing budget 2027: how much to put into AI and how to decide

For your 2027 marketing budget, the short answer is: measure before you move money. According to Kantar, a net 75% of marketers will raise their spending on AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Gemini. But only 32% of consumers use them to research brands and products. And only 23% trust what they recommend.

How much of the 2027 marketing budget will go to AI?

Kantar surveyed more than 800 senior marketers and 23,000 consumers across 33 markets. A net 75% of marketers will raise what they spend on AI assistants in 2027, ads included. Here, net means those planning to cut are subtracted from those planning to increase.

On top of that, 62% of marketers believe generative AI will be key to brand recommendations. In other words, the industry is getting ready for a new shop assistant: the one customers ask what to buy.

What it means: your competitors will move money into this channel in 2027. What to do: don't copy their figure; work out yours from your own data. Why: every business has different customers, and a channel that works in one sector may be empty in yours.

Rule of thumb: invest where your customers look, not where the industry looks.

How many consumers use AI assistants to choose a brand?

Fewer than it seems. According to Kantar, 32% of consumers use AI assistants to research brands and products: nearly 1 in 3. And only 23% trust their recommendations, fewer than 1 in 4.

What it means: there's a gap between what brands plan and what people do. What to do: find out which side of that gap your customers are on. Why: if your audience doesn't use AI to search, every euro spent there is a euro not going to a channel that works.

If you want to understand why people do or don't trust AI, read our analysis of trust in AI recommendations.

Rule of thumb: the industry figure is a clue; your customers' figure is the decision.

How can you measure AI traffic to your website for free?

You have three free sources. Google Analytics shows visits from chatgpt.com or perplexity.ai, what we call AI traffic. Search Console tells you how often your site appears in Google's AI summaries. And your customers can tell you if you ask them.

What it means: you don't need a 23,000-person study, just your own numbers. What to do: put those three sources into a one-month table. Why: with your own data, the budget discussion stops being a matter of opinion.

To choose measurement tools without overspending, see our guide to AI SEO tools for small businesses.

Rule of thumb: one month of data first, then the figure.

The Garcai method: set your AI figure in 5 steps

You need one hour a month for a quarter. No technical knowledge required.

1. Check in Google Analytics how many visits came last month from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai or gemini.google.com.
2. Open the generative AI report in Search Console and note how often your site appeared in Google's AI summaries.
3. Ask your last 20 customers how they found you. Add ‘an AI like ChatGPT’ as a possible answer.
4. If at least 1 in 10 reach you that way, set aside a small test budget for 2027. This is an editorial recommendation, not a rule from the study.
5. Review the three numbers after 90 days. If they grow, expand the budget; if not, move it back to what already works.

You can do it yourself: steps 3, 4 and 5, with a spreadsheet.

Ask your tech team, or whoever runs your website, if you can't see that data. Ready-to-send message: ‘Could you send me last month's visits from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai and gemini.google.com, plus the generative AI report from Search Console?’

Common mistakes when allocating your marketing budget to AI

• Reading ‘75% of marketers will invest’ when the figure is net.
• Copying a competitor's figure without looking at your own customers.
• Measuring only Google and forgetting visits from assistants like ChatGPT.
• Moving the whole budget at once instead of running a small test.
• Not setting a date to check whether the test worked.
• Forgetting that content also counts for appearing in answers: we explain it in our guide to showing up in ChatGPT.

Brands will invest more in AI, but your customers decide whether it pays off for you. If you're interested in the ads side, see how ChatGPT ads work. And remember: invest where your customers look, not where the industry looks.