Why More Paid Media Budget Doesn’t Fix a Targeting Problem

Gartner’s latest CMO Spend Survey confirms what many marketing leaders already sense: paid media now commands 30.6% of total marketing budgets — the largest single allocation, and the only category that has grown consistently over the past five years.

That’s a significant signal. And it raises an immediate question for most B2B marketing teams: are we confident enough in our targeting to keep scaling spend? Can we justify this increased allocation to our CFOs with a measurable ROI?

Because paid media is only as powerful as the audience behind it.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Marketing budgets have flatlined at 7.7% of company revenue for the second consecutive year — down from 9.5% in 2022 and well below the pre-pandemic average of 11%. Meanwhile, paid media’s share of that shrinking pie has grown to 30.6%, up 11% year-over-year. Martech (22.4%), labor (21.9%), and agency (20.7%) allocations all declined.

The math is clear: CMOs are concentrating a larger share of a smaller budget into paid media. And 59% of them say their budget is still insufficient to execute their 2025 strategy.

Thirty-nine percent of CMOs plan to cut agency budgets. Thirty-nine percent plan to cut labor. The only line item growing is the one that demands the most precision to generate ROI.

More Budget, Same Problem

Most B2B advertisers already know the frustration. You increase budget, impressions climb, and CPCs hold steady — but pipeline doesn’t move. The ads are running. The creative is solid. The problem is who’s seeing them.

Gartner puts it plainly: with ad prices rising, CMOs are getting less for every media dollar they spend. The answer isn’t simply to spend more. But how do we spend smarter.

The uncomfortable truth is that a significant portion of paid media spend in B2B lands on people who were never going to buy. Wrong role. Wrong timing. Wrong company. More budget just means more of that waste, at scale.

This Is Where Intent Changes the Equation

Unlike traditional company-based intent audiences, person-based intent audiences don’t target accounts — they target the actual personas who are actively in-market right now. Not job titles. Not firmographic lookalikes. The specific people showing real buying signals.

The result? Ads that are hyper-relevant to the people most likely to act — which is exactly the kind of performance-driven strategy Gartner identifies as the priority for CMOs navigating today’s budget pressures.

Spend Smarter, Not Just More

As paid media continues to dominate marketing investment, the teams that win won’t simply be the ones spending more.

They’ll be the ones who finally know who they’re spending it on.