Marketers report surging ROI as genAI moves from pilot to practice

Marketing continues to be an enterprise leader in genAI adoption and proving ROI — showing significant gains in the past year, according to a new SAS report. 

While 46% of marketers surveyed in 2024 said proving ROI on genAI was their biggest obstacle, this year, 93% of CMOs and 83% of marketing teams globally reported seeing measurable ROI. Among agentic AI adopters with deeper technological understanding, ROI climbs as high as 98%. Reported benefits include improved personalization (94%), faster data processing (91%), time and cost savings (90%), and gains in customer loyalty and sales.

This year also saw an increase in genAI deployment, and marketers improved their skills as they became more familiar with the technology.

By 2025, 85% of marketing teams were deploying genAI — up from three-quarters in 2024, according to the report, “Marketers and AI: Navigating New Depths.”

From experimentation to every day

Full integration also grew, with 15% of teams embedding genAI into workflows compared to just 10% a year earlier. At the same time, the share of teams still in the “planning” stage dropped from 22% to 13%, underscoring how quickly genAI has shifted from experimentation to practice.

Confidence in genAI climbed sharply in 2025, with 62% of marketers reporting a strong understanding of the technology, up from 50% in 2024. Awareness of its business impact extends to more than 90% of marketers.

Dig deeper: Revenue teams struggle with execution, despite widespread AI adoption

Between 2024 and 2025, adoption rose across key activities:

• Chatbots and customer interactions: 43% → 62%
• Text and copy generation: 34% → 45%
• Image generation: 27% → 36%
• Trends analysis: 23% → 34%
• Audience targeting: 19% → 29%
• Customer journey mapping: 16% → 22%

Despite progress elsewhere, governance frameworks remain largely underdeveloped. In 2024, only 7% of organizations reported a comprehensive genAI governance model; in 2025, that rose to just 8%. Lack of transparency, accountability and training remain barriers.

The most significant change in 2025 is the emergence of agentic AI — systems capable of acting autonomously on marketers’ behalf. Already, 21% of teams are testing agentic AI in live environments, and nearly three-quarters expect to implement it within two years. Experienced genAI adopters are leading this shift, having built the data and governance foundations needed to support more advanced capabilities.

Methodology

The 2025 SAS report, “Marketers and AI: Navigating New Depths,” draws on a global survey conducted by Coleman Parkes Research in June and July 2025. The study polled 300 marketing decision-makers across industries, including banking, insurance, public sector, life sciences, health care, telecom, manufacturing, retail, energy and utilities, and professional services. Respondents represented a mix of company sizes—from SMBs to enterprises with more than 10,000 employees—and held senior roles such as director of marketing, director of digital marketing, and VP of marketing.

Geographically, the sample included 99 respondents from the Americas, 160 from EMEA, and 41 from APAC. Importantly, the 2025 research builds on a comparable 2024 survey of 300 marketers, enabling longitudinal analysis of how attitudes and adoption of AI in marketing are shifting year over year. This consistent methodology across two studies provides a clear baseline for tracking emerging patterns in AI-driven marketing strategies worldwide. 

The study can be found here.