Stensul 2026 MarTech Outlook Finds AI Becomes Core Investment as Budgets Rise and Teams Shift Work In-House

Research shows organizations investing in AI-powered workflows, internal enablement, and execution models built for speed and scale

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Stensul today released the 2026 MarTech Outlook, a new proprietary research report indicating that 2026 will be a growth year for marketing technology budgets and a turning point for AI adoption. The findings show organizations increasingly treating AI as a core MarTech investment, alongside efforts to modernize workflows and build internal capability to execute faster.

The research also points to an operating-model shift as marketing teams prioritize enablement and reskilling over outsourced campaign support, signaling a move toward AI-enabled in-house execution.

“AI has moved beyond experimentation and into the center of the MarTech roadmap,” said Rachel Meranus, Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer of Stensul. “What stands out in this research is that companies aren’t just investing in tools—they’re investing in the training and workflows required to make AI work day-to-day.”

Report highlights

• 79% of organizations expect an increase in marketing technology budgets in 2026.
• AI-powered tools rank as the top planned MarTech investment for 2026.
• Organizations are prioritizing in-house enablement, with 57% planning to invest in AI reskilling for teams.
• 31% of respondents plan to reduce spending on external agencies for campaign execution, reflecting a shift toward internal capacity.

To access the full report, visit: https://stensul.com/resource/2026-martech-outlook

About the research

Stensul 2026 MarTech Outlook is based on a quantitative survey of 321 economic buyers of marketing technology solutions (U.S. n=269; U.K. n=52). The research examines marketing technology priorities, budget expectations, planned investment areas, and execution-model shifts for 2026.

About Stensul

Stensul is the Governed Creation™ Platform for enterprise marketing teams creating campaigns at scale. Built for complex, regulated, and multi-brand organizations, Stensul embeds governance directly into the creation process so teams can work faster without compromising brand or compliance. With AI-assisted creation, real-time collaboration, built-in guardrails, and seamless integrations in one, connected platform, marketers reduce campaign creation time by up to 90% and eliminate manual rework and review bottlenecks. Stensul integrates with leading ESPs, MAPs, DAMs, workflow tools, live content, link tracking, and messaging platforms. Top brands that trust Stensul include BlackRock, Cisco, Demandbase, Equifax, Greenhouse, Siemens, and Thomson Reuters. For more information, visit https://stensul.com.