• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, June 3, 2025

Budgets for owned and earned media channels have fallen this year — with one exception: Email.

Email saw a marginal increase, while contributing to the total digital spend for 2025, according to a survey released by Gartner Marketing at its Symposium/Xpo in Denver

Indeed, email remains the workhorse of marketing. It is ranked as the most effective channel, and the top one for customer loyalty. 

Spending on owned and earned channels fell by 9% YoY this year. The five leading ones are claiming these percentages of the average marketing budget:

SEO — 8.9%

Email — 7.4%

Influencer marketing — 5.9%

Sponsored content — 5.5%

SMS/push notifications — 3.5%

Overall, digital channels now claim 61% of the average marketing budget.

Paid search is the leader, having increased its share from 13.6% to 13.9% of the total digital spend YoY.

Digital display grew by 17% to 12.5% and now has supplanted social advertising for the second spot. However, social has maintained its 12.2% budget share. 

Video and streaming have slipped in impact because platform saturation and targeting challenges. Retail networks have grown.

Paid channels now comprise 69% of budgets, the study reports.

“The increasing allocation towards digital channels reflects a strategic pivot as CMOs recognize the need to adapt to rapidly changing consumer behaviors and technological advancements,” says Ewan McIntyre, vice president analyst and chief of research in Gartner Marketing Practice. “With Google's postponement of cookie deprecation, the rise of GenAI, and uncertainties surrounding TikTok's future, marketers are navigating a dynamic digital landscape to keep their strategies effective and impactful.”