AI at Work
50+ Content Marketing Statistics to Watch [2026]
Ashwini Pai · Senior Copywriter
February 6th, 2026 · 13 min read
Content marketing delivers lasting value. The time and effort teams invest in producing and distributing content create growth over time, even if the path isn’t always predictable. Disruptive trends and shifting consumer behaviors keep them on their toes, and strategies that worked one year can look very different the next.
2026 is no exception.
This year, themes like expanding AI adoption, new search experiences, and rising expectations for information and entertainment are likely to impact content marketing strategies. As always, consumer and marketer surveys uncover how expectations and decisions are shaping up.
We’ve brought the latest, most relevant statistics together here, with sources listed (and linked) below.
TL; DR:
AI adoption is now mainstream across marketing. Non-AI blog creation has dropped from 65% to 5%, and marketers are using AI for content creation across blogs, email, video, and images.
B2B spend is flowing toward AI marketing tools and AI SEO is among the top investment priorities.
Owned content remains the quiet ROI workhorse. Blog, SEO, and websites keep paying off.
Facebook remains a firm favorite with users and marketers alike even as TikTok and Instagram investment is expected to grow and X sees a pullback.
Short-form video leads video ROI.
Email is a top personalization use case and the highest ROI driver for B2C marketers.
Video podcasts continue to gain preference among listeners.
Marketers are doubling down on what works — SEO investment is rebounding and original research is becoming a key differentiator.
While data remains fragmented for most B2C marketers, leading teams rely more heavily on first-party and intent data.
Blogging statistics
Success with blogs has always depended on balancing cadence with substance. With LLMs and answer engines raising the bar for originality and online authority, blogging strategies are being reworked. Brands that drive tangible results through blogging will be those that can scale content production while maintaining SEO fundamentals and adapting to answer engine optimization (AEO) best practices.
Blog posts rank among the top five content formats marketers plan to invest in for 2026, behind short-form video, live video, long-form video, and user-generated content.
Blogging, SEO, and website content deliver the highest ROI for marketers.
Nearly 94% of marketers plan to use AI for content creation, including blog content.
The time spent on each article has reduced in the last few years, which may be linked to growing AI use for content creation.
The percentage of marketers who don’t use AI for blog creation has dropped from 65% to 5% in a span of two years.
Outlining and first-draft writing are among the top AI use cases in blog creation.
More marketers are publishing original research and using AI for editing. Those sharing new data report strong results.
Tip: Try Typeface’s Web Agent to generate blog outlines or drafts, with in-line AI editing assistance. Note how much time it saves, how easily you can scale content output, and how consistently brand knowledge shows up across new posts and repurposed formats.
Related reading:
Social media statistics for 2026
Capturing attention on major social media platforms is tougher than ever, with brands, influencers, and individuals all vying for visibility. Meanwhile, niche platforms are quietly building engaged, loyal communities, nudging brands toward long-term partnerships with influencers. The winning strategy will be one that balances multi-platform distribution with consistent, relatable, and relevant content.
Social media users outnumber non-users 2:1.
Users engage an average of 6.83 social media platforms each month.
The most used social media platforms by marketers worldwide are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, TikTok, and Threads.
Most top social media platforms barring X grew their audience year on year
Social media users plan to spend most time on Facebook, followed by Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn, with preferences varying across different generations of users.
Companies plan to invest more resources in TikTok and Instagram, followed by Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and WhatsApp.
Investments in Substack, Threads, Reddit, Snapchat, Pinterest, Bluesky, and Discord remain steady while fewer resources are planned for X.
Facebook is the top social media channel for product discovery, followed by TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit.
Users are most likely to interact with short-form video on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Users want brands to share more educational content on LinkedIn. They’re more likely to engage with text-based posts on the platform.
US and UK marketers’ top social media priorities for 2026 are experimenting with AI-generated content and creating episodic content.
US influencer marketing spending to grow 15.7% in 2026, following 15.0% growth in 2025 when it surpasses $10 billion.
Tip: Net-new content is great, but your existing video library is a goldmine for short-form clips and reels. Typeface’s Video Agent makes video creation easy and nontechnical, transforming long-form footage into social-ready sizzle reels in minutes across Meta, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
Related reading:
SEO and content discoverability
Opinions on the rise of AI search may vary, but one thing is clear: SEO isn’t going anywhere and, according to recent statistics, is set to receive renewed attention. Content strategies that closely examine the impact of AI overviews and LLM-powered search within their industry — and respond proactively — will gain both the insights to learn from and the results to show for it.
SEO budgets are recovering after a softer 2025, with 61% of marketers increasing spend, up from 44% last year. This renewed optimism comes as AI tools have made content production more efficient and organic visibility continues to be crucial even in a zero-click environment.
Investment in AI SEO is ramping up sharply, with 98% of marketers planning higher spend in 2026. Teams have moved from experimentation to value, understanding that AI can compress timelines for research, production, and optimization while maintaining quality standards.
For 41% of marketers, adapting SEO strategy for changes in search is a top priority.
With AI-generated content flooding the web, proprietary data is the new competitive moat and human-driven, AI-assisted content a key differentiator.
AI Overviews appear primarily for informational searches (88%)
Organic search accounts for nearly half (46.98%) of all web traffic, with one in two visits still beginning with a search query.
About 74% of marketers expect to maintain or increase spend on voice search optimization in 2026.
Related reading:
Video and visual content
If you thought all it takes is a few great videos, think again. Time spent watching video has steadily increased and now extends to channels that were traditionally dominated by text posts. No surprise then that marketers are continuing to double down on video content, with a little help from AI.
Over 90% of businesses use video as a marketing tool and consider it an important part of their marketing strategy.
37% of marketers plan on increasing their video investment in 2026.
Short-form video delivers the highest ROI among video formats, outperforming long-form video and live-action video.
Video watch time on LinkedIn grew 36% year-on-year in 2025.
YouTube ranks as the most effective video marketing platform followed by Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
85% of people say a video has influenced their decision to buy a product or service.
82% of marketers report that video marketing delivers strong ROI.
When optimizing performance, marketers most often test color, images, and video.
About 75% of marketers now rely on AI for video and image creation, ranking it among the leading AI applications in marketing.
Related reading:
Podcasts
Podcasting gives brands access to highly engaged audiences. While its popularity has held steady, consumption habits have shifted. Brands that succeed will leverage audience intelligence and look beyond reach, focusing instead on human-centric storytelling.
Global podcast listenership reached roughly 584 million in 2025 — up 6.8% from 2024 — and is expected to exceed 650 million by 2027.
Around 158 million people in the U.S. listen to podcasts monthly, rising to 584 million globally. 40% of U.S. adults tune in weekly.
Podcast listeners prefer watching podcasts as visual cues enhance connection with guests and hosts.
YouTube is the leading podcast platform in the U.S., with one in three listeners using it, followed by Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Podcasts have a strong monthly reach across age groups, with 66% of listeners aged 12–34, 61% aged 35–54, and 38% aged 55 and older.
81% of listeners say they pay more attention to podcast ads than to radio, TV, outdoor, or social media ads. However, marketers just 3.8% of digital budgets to the channel.
AI is streamlining podcast production. About 40% of podcasters use AI tools, and AI has reduced podcast production costs by about 20%.
Email marketing
The proven strategy of email segmentation and personalization has received a significant boost from AI. Marketing teams can now rapidly generate and test personalized emails, giving every campaign a stronger chance to resonate and deliver results.
Email continues to deliver strong ROI, ranking as the highest or second-highest ROI channel across different surveys.
Email is one of the top three channels for personalization, with 25% of marketers calling it the most effective. However, most email personalization remains basic, such as using a recipient’s name in the copy.
Relevance drives open rates. 46% of consumers say they open emails from a brand because the messages are consistently relevant.
AI adoption is widespread in email workflows. Over 80% of marketers use AI for content creation, including email copy.
41% of consumers actively check email for discounts and offers.
Tip: Use Typeface’s Email Agent to generate personalized emails for campaigns and testing. Read how Email Agent helped our marketing team drive 4x higher email conversions with personalized campaigns.
B2B content marketing statistics
B2B marketing strategies are unlikely to see major shifts. Brands continue to rely on content to influence high-consideration purchases and increasingly view AI as a force multiplier.
61% of B2B marketers are increasing overall spend in 2026. Their top three investment priorities are AI-powered marketing tools (45%), events and experiential marketing (33%), and owned media such as website, blogs, and email (32%).
Top ROI channels for B2B remain owned content (website, blog, SEO), followed by paid social and social commerce.
The biggest drivers of B2B content marketing performance are content relevance and quality, strong team capabilities, and tight alignment with sales.
Proprietary research is a top focus area. 86% of marketers plan to increase research budgets in 2026, with those publishing original data reporting higher conversion rates (64%) and stronger SEO performance and organic traffic (61%).
Related reading:
B2C content marketing statistics
As it has always been, strong data and channel strategies are driving B2C marketing success. But now AI is playing a supporting role by helping brands create, optimize, and scale content.
For B2C marketers, the highest ROI channels are email marketing, followed by paid social media and content marketing.
Data unification remains a challenge. Only about a quarter of B2C marketers say they’ve successfully centralized most data sources while over half report ongoing effort.
Top-performing data strategies focus on richer signals. Marketers with the most effective approaches prioritize first-party data insights (49% vs. 40%) and intent data (38% vs. 33%).
More B2C brands are recognizing the value of collecting and using first-party data not just for targeting, but for increasing content personalization and optimizing marketing campaigns.
B2C segmentation is improving but still limited. 45% of B2C marketers can now segment audiences for highly personalized messaging, yet most still struggle to achieve deeper personalization.
Almost 50% of eCommerce sellers use AI to write product descriptions.
62% of B2C marketing leaders say their organizations use generative AI for content creation and optimization.
What this means for you
While it's easy to get lost in the numbers, the key takeaway is that they're signals about where content marketing is headed. The brands winning in 2026 are the ones using AI strategically to create more content, faster, without sacrificing quality or losing their voice.
Typeface can help. Whether you're creating social posts, email campaigns, blog articles, or ad variations, Typeface helps you work at the speed and scale your audience expects while maintaining the quality your brand deserves.
Get a demo today, or take a self-guided product tour to see what Typeface as to offer.
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