UK marketing leaders are now spending an estimated £4.6bn annually on AI-related marketing investment — roughly 3.1× the 2023 equivalent.
The 2026 composition has shifted: AI-driven media (38%), AI-first agency retainers (19%), AI tooling (17%), embedded AI inside owned martech (14%), AI-related headcount (12%).
UK 2026 median AI marketing spend per marketing employee: £3,840. Leader cohort: £6,200. Laggard cohort: £1,150. The single most operationally useful benchmark in the dataset.
Updated quarterly by Creative Marketing Research with full methodology and citation block.