So make sure it's more than $0 in 2026.
Insight Bite: July 1, 2026.
The marketing budget conversation may be changing faster than marketers realize. Gartner predicts earned media budgets will double by 2027. Why? AI is becoming a discovery engine, and AI appears to trust earned, credible, recent third-party content far more than paid promotion.
One cited stat makes the shift hard to ignore: roughly 94% of links in AI-generated answers come from non-paid sources. That matters because buyers are not just searching anymore. They are asking AI for a short list and trusting the recommendation.
For manufacturers, this creates a real opportunity: earned media is no longer just awareness. It is training data for future buyers. The brands investing now in credible stories, proof points and third-party validation may be the ones AI recommends later.
And as a company that has been recommended by AI, the instant credibility is somewhat surprising…
Full read here at Inc.