AI in Marketing: 2025 Industry Reports, Studies & Research
A year-end roundup of some of the more notable industry reports, studies, and research on Marketing AI from 2025.
2025 was an incredible year of innovation and disruption in the AI business, and plenty of companies, organizations, and academics analyzed what happened, where we stand, and what it all means for marketing. Below is a year-end roundup of some of the more interesting or notable industry reports, studies, and research from this past year.
Flagship Industry Benchmarks
Comprehensive annual surveys defining the "state of the union" for AI adoption.
2025 State of Marketing AI Report | Marketing AI Institute & SmarterX
The fifth annual report is widely considered the industry standard for adoption data. It reveals that 74% of marketers now view AI as "critically important" to their success, with 40% of organizations currently in the "experimentation" phase of adoption.
State of Martech 2025 | Scott Brinker & Frans Riemersma (Martech Tribe)
This report maps the 2025 technology landscape, highlighting a massive shift toward "Agentic AI." Key findings show that 87.5% of marketing operations teams now use AI assistants, and 62% are experimenting with autonomous agents.
The State of AI in Marketing 2025 | Jasper.ai
Based on data from over 500 marketers, this study focuses on ROI measurement. It finds that while adoption is high, only 49% of marketing teams are successfully measuring the return on investment of their AI tools.
2025 State of Marketing Report | HubSpot
HubSpot's annual survey identifies "Content Creation" as the #1 use case for AI in 2025 (35% of marketers), followed closely by data analysis (30%) and workflow automation (20%).
Strategic Consulting & CMO Insights
High-level analysis on budgets, leadership, and organizational transformation.
The State of AI: Global Survey 2025 | McKinsey & Company
Released in late 2025, this global survey highlights the transition from "pilot" to "scale." It notes that while 88% of organizations use AI, only one-third have successfully scaled it enterprise-wide.
CMO Spend Survey 2025 | Gartner
A critical financial analysis showing that marketing budgets have remained flat at ~7.7% of company revenue. The report emphasizes that CMOs are funding AI experimentation by cutting labor costs and underperforming agency retainers.
B2B Marketing Trends 2025: AI Search | Forrester
This report warns of a "zero-click" future, predicting that AI-powered search engines (like Perplexity and SearchGPT) will disrupt traditional B2B inbound traffic. It forecasts that AI-generated answers will significantly reduce website visits for top-of-funnel queries.
Digital Trends 2025 | Adobe & Econsultancy
A survey of 3,400 executives finding that 53% report significant productivity increases from Generative AI. The report identifies "personalization at scale" as the primary unfulfilled promise of the current AI wave.
Academic Research (Peer-Reviewed)
Rigorous theoretical work and methodologies published in 2025 journals.
"Ideation with Generative AI in Consumer Research and Beyond"
Authors: Julian De Freitas, Gideon Nave, Stefano Puntoni
Journal: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 52, Issue 1 (2025)
This paper empirically tests LLMs against human creativity, proposing a framework where AI acts as a "Designer" and "Writer" to overcome human cognitive bottlenecks during the ideation phase.
"The GenAI Future of Consumer Research"
Authors: Ming-Hui Huang and Roland T. Rust
Journal: Journal of Consumer Research (2025)
A seminal paper warning of the "average trap"—the risk that training AI models on existing consumer data will lead to homogenized, average marketing insights rather than breakthrough innovation.
"AI-Evolved Marketing Research Methods"
Authors: Melanie B. Richards and Trena M. Paulus
Journal: Marketing Education Review, Vol. 35, Issue 3 (2025)
This study interviews 20 researchers to develop a "Technology Reflexivity Framework," addressing how AI is fundamentally altering qualitative and quantitative marketing research methodologies.
"AI-Human Hybrids for Marketing Research"
Authors: Neeraj Arora, et al.
Publication: SSRN / ArXiv (2025)
Research exploring "collaborative intelligence," demonstrating how human-AI hybrid teams outperform either humans or AI models alone in complex sales and marketing tasks.
Consumer Behavior & Creative Trends
Studies focusing on the cultural impact and creative application of AI.
Accenture Life Trends 2025 | Accenture Song
Investigates the "Social Rewilding" phenomenon, where consumers, fatigued by AI-generated content and "trust gaps," are increasingly seeking offline, authentic experiences.
Fragment Forward: 2025 Trends Report | Dentsu Creative
Explores the "Age of the Algorithm," arguing that AI efficiency is creating a "sea of sameness" in brand content. The report urges brands to use AI for "brand distinctiveness" rather than just speed.
50+ AI Marketing Statistics 2025 | SEO.com
A comprehensive aggregation of adoption statistics, noting that the global AI marketing market is valued at $47.32 billion in 2025, with 92% of businesses planning further investment.
Why Salesforce Outpaces the Marketing AI Competition (2025 Analysis) | Cloud4Good
A specific comparative study of the 2025 landscape for enterprise marketing clouds, contrasting Salesforce's "Agentforce" (autonomous agents) against HubSpot's "Breeze" AI.