Clutch x Conductor: The 2026 State of Content Report
To understand the current state of content marketing in the age of AI, Clutch—in partnership with Conductor—surveyed 459 content marketing professionals in January 2026.
Learn why they view LLMs as an opportunity, how content budgets are changing, and the content strategies they are prioritizing to increase AI search visibility.
LLMs and answer engines have reshaped discoverability in the last 12 months. For content teams, this has resulted in a race to keep up with the rapid state of change in AI and content creation and ensure content marketingContent Marketing
Content marketing is a marketing discipline with the goal of increasing awareness and scope for products and brands in the desired target group with content published on the web and offline.
Learn more efforts reflect the changing customer journey.
To understand the current state of content marketing in the age of AI, Clutch —in partnership with Conductor—surveyed 459 marketing professionals who are responsible for their organization’s content marketing efforts.
Explore the full report from Clutch to get an in-depth analysis of results. A brief overview of the top takeaways is provided below.
Methodology
To determine the latest insights on the state of content marketing in the AI era, 459 content marketing professionals were surveyed in January 2026. They were sourced from businesses of all sizes (1-1,000+ employees).
The respondents represent a wide range of role levels, including C-suite executives, directors, managers, specialists, and associates.
Top takeaways
LLMs and AI search provide new opportunity for content marketers
The findings indicate content marketers are feeling optimistic about the role of content in the age of AI search:
- 81% of respondents feel positive about the state of content in the era of LLMs .
- Additionally, 67% view LLMs as more of an opportunity for their content marketing efforts, as opposed to a risk.
Despite early alarmists claiming AI-generated content and AI search would mean an end to human writers and content marketers, it’s clear these advancements have created new opportunities and specialization areas for content experts.
LLMs emerge as new primary content audience
Nearly 25% of respondents identified LLMs as the primary audience for a majority of their content, overall. Among respondents at enterprise organizations, that number increases to 32%.
Over 77% create content primarily intended for LLMs to detect, reference, or surface in their responses. Within written content, a majority of content marketers plan to increase proprietary research reports/whitepapers in 2026 to improve visibility in LLMs.
This data represents a significant shift among content marketers in prioritizing content creation specifically for LLM discoverability. It reflects the broader organizational priority to ensure content is visible in emerging channels like AI search.
Dive deeper into the data with the full report from Clutch .
Content investments and output expected to increase in 2026
A majority of marketers (87%) plan to increase content marketing budgets in 2026 and over 55% plan to produce more content in 2026, signaling a business-wide priority of increasing organic discoverability across search surfaces.
Additionally, 75% of content marketers leverage AI-powered tools within their standard content creation process, which highlights the growing role AI plays in supporting increased content production.
The state of content marketing in 2026
As discoverability shifts further to AI-powered search surfaces, content marketers must adapt. Explore the full findings on the state of content marketing in 2026 in the report from Clutch .
