Marketing teams grew 2.5% in 2026, according to The CMO Survey's Spring 2026 report (Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, Deloitte, and the American Marketing Association), down sharply from 5.4% in 2025. That number moves a lot once it's cut by company size: teams at companies under $10M in revenue grew 14.0%, while teams at companies over $10B shrank 2.7%.
The gap between those 2 numbers is wide enough that one flat “average team size” figure, the kind most pages on this topic lead with, obscures more than it explains. The real answer depends on revenue, company size and industry.
In short
Marketing teams grew 2.5% in 2026, down from 5.4% in 2025 — a 54% relative drop. Growth is concentrated at the smallest companies: those under $10M in revenue grew 14.0% in 2026, and those at $10-25M grew 11.5%. Companies between $26M and $499M in revenue shrank, and the largest companies, above $10B, cut 2.7%. By industry, Mining and Construction grew fastest (+20.0%) and Communications and Media cut deepest (-13.7%). Companies that sell 100% online had zero growth in 2026, the only segment with no gain at all, but expect the largest rebound of any group in 2027, +9.0%. Overall growth in 2027 is projected to hold near 2026's reduced pace, at 2.6%.
| Revenue | Marketing Team Growth, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Under $10M | +14.0% |
| $10-25M | +11.5% |
| $26-99M | -3.5% |
| $100-499M | -1.4% |
| $500-999M | +5.5% |
| $1-9.9B | +2.2% |
| Over $10B | -2.7% |
Marketing Headcount Growth Fell Off a Cliff in 2026
Growth moved between 3.4% and 5.5% every half-year from Spring 2023 through 2025 (Spring 2023: 3.4%, Fall 2023: 5.5%, Spring 2024: 3.9%, Fall 2024: 5.3%, 2025: 5.4%), then fell to 2.5% in 2026 in a single sharp break. The same survey's executive summary points to a cause: economic pessimism is at its highest level since the pandemic, with companies signaling spending cuts over increases by nearly 4 to 1.
Next year is expected to hold at 2.6%, essentially the same reduced pace — marketing leaders aren't forecasting a rebound.
How Growth Varies by Revenue and Company Size
The revenue table above tells part of the story. The employee-count breakdown tells a related but different one:
| Employees | Marketing Team Growth, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Under 50 | +13.4% |
| 50-99 | +12.3% |
| 100-499 | -6.2% |
| 500-999 | -2.0% |
| 1,000-2,499 | +6.5% |
| 2,500-4,999 | -3.3% |
| 5,000-9,999 | +0.8% |
| Over 10,000 | -0.8% |
The relationship between company size and direction is messier than a straight line from small-grows to big-shrinks. The 100-499-employee band posted the steepest cut of any group, -6.2%, while the much larger 1,000-2,499-employee band grew 6.5% in the same year. Company size predicts direction less reliably than it predicts volatility — the middle bands swing harder in both directions than the extremes.
Growth Also Splits by Industry and Sales Model
By industry, Mining and Construction grew marketing teams fastest (+20.0%), followed by Pharma and Biotech (+17.6%). Communications and Media cut the deepest (-13.7%), followed by Transportation (-11.0%). By business type: B2C Services grew 4.6%, B2C Product 4.2%, B2B Services 3.9%, and B2B Product was flat at 0.0%.
The sharpest reversal in the whole dataset belongs to companies that sell 100% online. Their marketing teams had zero growth in 2026, the only online-sales segment with no gain at all — yet they expect the largest rebound of any group in 2027, +9.0%, more than double the next-highest segment.
Why Teams Are Shrinking While the Job Gets Bigger
Companies still say training and hiring is how they build marketing capability, a share that's barely moved since 2020 (59.5% now). But training and development spending keeps falling — 3.8% of marketing budgets, down from a pre-pandemic high of 5.8% — at the same time headcount growth just had its sharpest drop in years. The strategy hasn't changed. The resourcing behind it has.
22.3% of marketing leaders point to inadequate resourcing as their biggest capability gap, ahead of any specific skill. Separately, 35.7% cite AI-related capability gaps spanning analytics, demand generation and generative AI specifically — the same AI-readiness gap already showing up in how that budget gets spent, where only 30% of teams report being ready to use their own AI investment well.
What Next Year Looks Like
The 2027 forecast repeats 2026's pattern: companies under $10M in revenue expect the fastest growth (+7.2%), companies over $10B expect a further cut (-0.29%), and Mining/Construction and Professional Services expect the biggest gains (+9.6%, +6.5%). The 100%-online-sales reversal is the one exception to watch.
Headcount is one side of the growth equation. Marketing budgets split by business type too — B2C Product companies spend the most of revenue, B2B Product the least.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average size of a marketing team?
It depends heavily on company revenue, and most of the numbers circulating online aren't sourced to a real survey. Per The CMO Survey's Spring 2026 report, companies under $10M in revenue grew their marketing teams 14.0% in 2026, while companies between $26M and $99M shrank theirs by 3.5% — the “average” varies too much by company size for one flat number to mean much.
Is the marketing team growing or shrinking in 2026?
Both, depending on company size. Marketing teams grew 2.5% overall in 2026, down sharply from 5.4% in 2025. Smaller companies (under $25M in revenue) are still growing their teams by double digits, while companies between $26M and $499M in revenue, and those over $10B, are cutting.
How does marketing team size vary by company revenue?
Growth isn't a straight line from small to large. Companies under $10M grew 14.0% and $10-25M companies grew 11.5%, but $26-99M and $100-499M companies both shrank, before growth returns at $500-999M (+5.5%) and fades again above $10B (-2.7%).
Which industries are growing their marketing teams fastest?
Mining and Construction (+20.0%) and Pharma and Biotech (+17.6%) grew marketing teams fastest in 2026. Communications and Media (-13.7%) and Transportation (-11.0%) cut the deepest.
Why are marketing teams shrinking even as the job gets bigger?
Training and development spending has fallen to 3.8% of marketing budgets, down from 5.8% before the pandemic, at the same time headcount growth dropped from 5.4% to 2.5%. 22.3% of marketing leaders cite inadequate resourcing as their biggest capability shortfall, ahead of any specific skills gap.
Will marketing hiring pick up in 2027?
Only slightly. Marketing leaders expect growth to hold at roughly 2.6% in 2027, close to 2026's reduced pace. The one exception: companies that sell 100% online, which had zero growth in 2026 but expect the largest rebound of any group, +9.0%.
About the Author
Ruslan Abdrakhmanov is an Executive Marketing Advisor and CMO with 13+ years leading international marketing teams across EMEA, SEA, and Americas. Expert in data-driven growth strategies with the track record growing B2B and B2C businesses.
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