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MarketScale

The B2B Marketing Index

The State of
B2B Marketing.

One report fusing a cross-platform AI-visibility benchmark, a twelve-year content corpus, what content buyers actually act on, and the live signal from the field. A data-backed benchmark of B2B marketing.

Last updated July 6, 2026 · Reporting period Apr 7 – Jul 6, 2026 · refreshed every Monday

5
AI engines benchmarked
14,935 AI responses analyzed
21,466
Articles in the corpus
12 years of B2B coverage
23,700
Distinct B2B topics tracked
across every vertical

Why this matters

Buyers do most of their homework before they ever raise a hand

By the time a buyer talks to sales, the shortlist is largely set. The work of marketing has moved earlier, into the content buyers and AI engines find on their own.

~70%

of the buying journey is complete before a buyer contacts sales.

6sense

87%

of B2B marketers say content marketing built brand awareness in the last year.

Content Marketing Institute, 2025

Our read: buyers self-educate first, so the content that AI engines and buyers can find early is the new top of funnel. The sections below show where brands get named, cited, and acted on across that corpus.

The AI-answer layer

Where B2B buyers get their information now

Across 5 major AI engines: how often they name B2B brands, and how often they actually cite a source for it. Gemini name-drops brands most (30.5%), but cites sources in only 11.1% of answers.

Named vs. cited, by engine

Gemini19 pts uncited
31% named
11% cited
AI Overviews2 pts uncited
30% named
28% cited
ChatGPT7 pts uncited
28% named
21% cited
AI Mode4 pts uncited
26% named
22% cited
Perplexity18 pts uncited
23% named
5% cited

From mention to citation

Brand mentioned
4,077
Mention backed by a citation
2,611 · 64%

Of every brand mention AI answers produce, the share that arrives backed by a source citation.

Platforms Mention but Rarely Cite · 0.36

Content strategies should prioritize verified, cite-worthy content.

AI Overview Balances Mentions with Citations · 28%

Leverage third-party content that aligns with platforms favoring citations.

Perplexity's Limited Visibility Reflects in Mentions and Citations · 22.9%

Enhance B2B presence by improving brand discoverability on Perplexity.

Average Mention Rate Masks Gaps · 27.3%

Refine multi-platform strategies that bridge the gap between mention and citation.

The attention map

What B2B actually talks about

Twelve years of B2B publishing across every vertical, 2017 to 2026: what the market writes about, and how that focus has shifted.

Publishing volume by year
180
'17
3.7k
'18
2.0k
'19
2.2k
'20
2.4k
'21
1.8k
'22
4.3k
'23
1.9k
'24
1.3k
'25
856
'26

Publishing volume was down 33% in 2025 vs. 2024. 2026 is in progress.

Corpus at a glance
21,466
articles published
23,700
distinct topics
19,091
distinct tags
Top topics by article volume
Education Technology0.5% of corpus
107
Workforce Development0.4% of corpus
80
Applied Digital0.3% of corpus
75
Digital Transformation0.3% of corpus
71
AV Rental Equipment0.3% of corpus
59
Leadership Development0.3% of corpus
55
Operational Efficiency0.2% of corpus
51
Future Of Work0.2% of corpus
50
Industrial IoT0.2% of corpus
49
AI Infrastructure0.2% of corpus
47
Coverage by vertical
Professional AV21% of corpus
4,513
Engineering & Construction15% of corpus
3,211
Healthcare13% of corpus
2,692
Education Technology11% of corpus
2,259
Software & Technology7% of corpus
1,406
Energy6% of corpus
1,337
Retail6% of corpus
1,218
Food & Beverage4% of corpus
862

What buyers act on

What content actually performs

Social proof posts surged twelve ranks, highlighting increased emphasis on formats that build credibility through peer-based validation.

Performance vs. how much gets made
5
high-effort formats produced at below-median volume: the trust content that gets made the least
3
high-effort formats that also carry real volume: the workhorses programs lean on most
FormatProduction effort (mean level, 1–5)Volume
Analyst-style explainer
High trust · under-produced
L2.7
3% of volume
Onsite customer interview
High trust · under-produced
L2.4
1% of volume
Practitioner Q&A
High trust · under-produced
L2.4
1% of volume
Internal expert breakdown
High trust · under-produced
L2.3
1% of volume
Customer story
High trust · under-produced
L2.3
3% of volume
Product walkthrough
L2.5
8% of volume
Event recap
L2.4
7% of volume
Expert interview
L2.4
5% of volume
Field insight
L2.3
4% of volume
Short-form video
L2.3
13% of volume
Executive POV
L2.2
2% of volume
Sales enablement clip
L2.1
4% of volume
Social proof post
L2.1
8% of volume
Podcast episode
L2.1
5% of volume
Webinar clip
L1.9
9% of volume
High-effort, under-producedEverything elseBar length = mean production effort
Format performance leaderboard
OtherTier 226% of volumeacross 49 channels
62
Short-form videoTier 213% of volumeacross 34 channels
51
Social proof postTier 28% of volumeacross 24 channels
46
Product walkthroughTier 28% of volumeacross 21 channels
46
Event recapTier 27% of volumeacross 19 channels
45
Webinar clipTier 29% of volumeacross 20 channels
43
Expert interviewTier 25% of volumeacross 12 channels
41
Podcast episodeTier 25% of volumeacross 15 channels
41

Early-stage formats are shown as directional and will firm up over time.

Credibility signals that move buyers
Operational specificity
92
Named creator / expert source
89
Real production investment (Level 3-5)
85
Structured narrative arc
82
Multi-format distribution
78
Visual brand consistency
75
Production-tier distribution
80
Tier 1
192
Tier 2
113
Tier 3
10
Tier 4
1
Tier 5

Across 18 formats and 11 industries.

From the field

What the data points to

The patterns that keep surfacing across B2B marketing teams, ordered by how broadly and how often each one shows up.

Signal 01

Small marketing teams lack capacity to produce content at scale

B2B marketing teams across multiple industries report that internal headcount and budget constraints prevent them from meeting content production demands. Teams frequently cite frozen headcounts, limited staff, and over-reliance on a single marketing person as core blockers. This pattern is consistent across companies of varying sizes and sectors, and is driving interest in outsourced or platform-assisted content solutions.

Across B2B marketing, the single most common content bottleneck is not strategy or budget alone. It is headcount. Teams of one or two are expected to produce at the volume of departments three times their size, and the gap is widening.

Most B2B marketing teams are not under-resourced by choice. Frozen headcounts and constrained budgets have made consistent content production structurally difficult for teams across industries.

A single marketing hire covering content, demand generation, and communications is now a common org chart reality in B2B. The production demands attached to that role are not shrinking.

Signal 02

The production gap: why B2B video output stalls on lean teams

B2B marketing teams with limited headcount are consistently unable to maintain a regular cadence of video content production. Teams report that small staff sizes, competing priorities, and a lack of dedicated production resources create gaps in content output. This is a recurring operational challenge rather than a strategic disagreement about the value of video.

Lean B2B marketing teams consistently cite headcount and competing priorities as the primary reason video content production stalls. The gap is not strategic. Teams that want to produce video regularly are blocked by operational constraints, not ambivalence about video's value.

Most B2B marketing teams believe in video. Few have the operational infrastructure to produce it consistently. The gap between intent and output is a resource problem, not a strategic one.

Small marketing teams face a structural disadvantage with video: production requires time, coordination, and dedicated effort that competes directly with every other demand on limited staff.

Signal 03

Why B2B content programs stall and what the working models have in common

Many B2B organizations report that their marketing function is staffed by one to a few people, creating significant bandwidth constraints that prevent consistent content production. Teams acknowledge the need for more output but lack the internal capacity to execute without external support or platform tooling. This resource gap is frequently cited as the core reason teams explore user-generated content or platform-assisted production models.

Most B2B marketing teams run on fewer than five people. That headcount cannot sustain the content volume modern go-to-market demands, which is why platform-assisted production and user-generated models have moved from experiment to operational baseline.

Most B2B marketing functions are staffed by a handful of people. The gap between what those teams can produce and what their pipeline requires is where content programs stall.

Bandwidth is the most common reason B2B marketing teams fall short on content output. The teams closing that gap are not hiring their way out of it. They are building systems that extend what their existing people can do.

Signal 04

Trade shows are content triggers. Between them, most B2B teams go quiet.

B2B organizations consistently treat upcoming industry events and trade shows as deadlines that activate content production planning. Teams coordinate video shoots, interview logistics, and promotional materials specifically around these events. Outside of event windows, content production cadence tends to be lower and less structured.

Industry events are the primary forcing function for B2B content production. B2B marketing teams coordinate video, interviews, and promotional materials around trade show calendars, and content output drops sharply when no event is on the horizon.

For most B2B marketing teams, content production ramps when a trade show is approaching and stalls when one is not. The event calendar is, in practice, the editorial calendar.

B2B organizations treat upcoming industry events as hard deadlines that activate coordination across video production, interviews, and promotional materials. Outside those windows, output and structure tend to decline.

Signal 05

Why B2B marketing programs stall during organizational transitions

B2B accounts are pausing or slowing marketing decisions due to internal organizational changes such as leadership departures, restructuring, layoffs, or onboarding of new executives. These transitions create decision-making gaps where no single owner can approve new initiatives. The effect is a temporary but recurring freeze on platform adoption and content strategy commitments.

When B2B organizations restructure, marketing programs stall. Leadership departures, layoffs, and executive onboarding create approval gaps that freeze platform adoption and content strategy decisions, sometimes for quarters at a time.

Organizational change is one of the most common reasons B2B marketing programs pause. When decision-making authority shifts, platform adoption and content commitments are often the first initiatives to slow.

Leadership transitions create a window where no single owner can approve new spend or strategy. For B2B marketing teams, that window can last weeks or months depending on how quickly new executives establish priorities.

Signal 06

Why distributed content teams struggle to maintain brand consistency

B2B organizations with multiple locations, departments, or content contributors struggle to maintain consistent visual and editorial branding across video and marketing assets. Teams frequently identify mismatches in fonts, logos, intros, and formatting that require rework. The challenge intensifies when content is produced by distributed or non-marketing staff who lack access to centralized brand guidelines.

Brand consistency is a structural problem for B2B organizations with distributed content contributors. When non-marketing staff produce video and marketing assets without access to centralized guidelines, the result is compounding rework that slows output and dilutes brand equity.

B2B organizations with distributed content teams report significant rework tied to inconsistent application of fonts, logos, and formatting across channels. The gap widens when content is produced outside the marketing function.

Centralized brand governance reduces approval cycles and production inefficiencies. Organizations that standardize visual and editorial guidelines across all contributors see measurable gains in content output quality.

Signal 07

B2B content strategy is being rewritten around AI discoverability

B2B marketing teams are increasingly prioritizing content strategies based on how their brand appears in AI-generated search results. Organizations are exploring tools and approaches to monitor and improve their visibility in AI responses, and some are shifting from traditional SEO tactics toward human-authored content and thought leadership to remain discoverable. This shift is creating urgency around content volume, quality, and strategic positioning.

AI generated search results are reshaping how B2B buyers discover vendors. With nearly nine in ten B2B buyers now using AI tools during research, brand visibility in those outputs has become a strategic priority, not a secondary concern for content teams.

B2B buyers are conducting more of their research through AI tools, which means discoverability now depends on what AI systems surface, not just what search engines rank. Content volume, authority, and topical depth are the variables that matter.

Traditional SEO tactics are losing ground in a market where AI generated answers, not blue links, shape first impressions. B2B marketing teams are redirecting investment toward human authored thought leadership to stay visible at the moment of discovery.

Signal 08

B2B content strategy in an AI search environment

Multiple B2B marketing teams are actively adjusting their content strategies to optimize for AI-driven search and large language model visibility, rather than traditional SEO alone. Teams are exploring written content formats, structured data, and content ecosystems that improve discoverability in AI-powered search environments. This shift is influencing decisions about video versus written content prioritization.

B2B marketing teams are reorienting content strategy around AI search visibility, shifting priority from traditional SEO signals to structured, written content ecosystems that surface reliably in large language model environments. The format question is no longer aesthetic. It is a discoverability question.

B2B content strategy is shifting from traditional SEO optimization toward visibility in AI-driven search environments, where structured written content consistently outperforms other formats in discoverability.

As large language models become a primary research surface for B2B buyers, the teams building dense, well-structured written content libraries are establishing a durable visibility advantage.

Reading between the trends

Want to know what these shifts mean for your market? Ask us.

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