The State of B2B Demand Generation 2026

B2B demand generation in 2026 is defined by a contradiction that the published research states plainly. Buyers increasingly want to complete a purchase without talking to anyone. They also, increasingly, want a person to confirm what they have found.

Most of the practical difficulty in demand generation right now comes from serving both of those preferences at once.

1. The rep-free preference is real, and it is growing

Gartner's sales research has tracked buyer preference for self-service over several years. In June 2025 it reported 61% of B2B buyers preferring a rep-free buying experience.^[3] By March 2026 that figure had risen to 67%.^[2]

A six-point movement in nine months is substantial for a behavioural preference, and the direction is consistent with a longer trend. Gartner has also reported that buyers spend only a small minority of their total buying time in direct contact with any potential supplier, with the large majority of the journey conducted independently.

For demand generation, the operational implication is uncomfortable but clear. The material a buyer encounters without you present is doing the selling. If that material requires a conversation to be useful, it is not doing its job.

2. And buyers still want a human to check the answer

The countervailing finding arrived in May 2026, when Gartner reported that 69% of B2B buyers turn to sales representatives to validate AI-generated insights.^[4] Buyers are using AI tools during research and then seeking human confirmation before acting on what they find.^[5]

Buyers do not want to be sold to. They do want to be sure. Those are different needs and the second one is growing as AI enters the research process.

This reframes what a sales conversation is for. Historically it carried information the buyer could not get elsewhere. Increasingly the information is available and what the buyer lacks is confidence in it, particularly when it was assembled by a system that does not explain its reasoning.

The practical consequence for demand generation programmes is that the handoff point has moved later and the nature of the first conversation has changed. A rep who opens with information the buyer already has adds nothing. A rep who can confirm, qualify or correct what the buyer found is doing the job the buyer actually wants done.

3. The buying group keeps getting larger

Gartner's buying journey research describes a typical complex B2B purchase as involving six to ten decision makers, each arriving with four or five pieces of independently gathered research that they then share with the group.^[1]

Two things follow, and the second is more often missed.

The first is arithmetic. If eight people each gather five items of research, a single purchase decision involves around forty pieces of content, most of which the vendor did not choose, sequence or see.

The second is that the hardest part of the process happens between those people, not between them and you. Independent research shared across a group has to be reconciled, and that reconciliation is where deals slow down and stall. Content that helps a champion explain a decision to colleagues is doing more work than content that impresses an individual reader.

4. What buyers say about the content they receive

Buyer feedback on vendor content is consistent and has been for years. Asked how B2B vendors could improve their content, buyers pointed to curbing sales messaging (39%), producing shorter content (37%), using more data and research (36%) and not overloading content with copy (36%).^[7]

NetLine's annual study of B2B content consumption, now in its ninth edition, tracks registration and consumption behaviour across a large content network and remains one of the few consistent public time series on how gated content is actually consumed.^[6]

The pattern in the feedback is worth stating plainly: three of the four requests are for less. Less selling, less length, less filler. The one request for more is for evidence.

5. The budget context

None of this is happening in an expanding budget. Gartner's 2025 CMO Spend Survey found marketing budgets flat at 7.7% of company revenue, with 59% of CMOs reporting insufficient budget to execute their strategy.^[8] The CMO Survey recorded headcount growth halving year on year and training budgets falling to 3.8% of marketing spend.^[9]

So the demands on demand generation are rising - larger buying groups, more content per decision, a longer independent research phase - while the resources are flat and the team is not growing. That is the actual operating condition, and any 2026 plan that assumes otherwise is planning for a different market.

6. What did not change

One planning assumption was removed in April 2025, when Google confirmed it would not deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome and would retain existing user controls instead.^[10]

For demand generation specifically, this changes less than it appears to. The case for first-party data was never solely about Chrome. Privacy regulation across multiple jurisdictions, mobile platform restrictions, and the simple fact that a direct relationship performs better than an inferred one all remain in place. A programme built on consented, first-party relationships is not less valuable because one browser reversed a decision.

What we take from this

Supported by the evidence. Self-service preference is rising and now stands at 67%. Human validation demand is also rising, at 69%, and the two are not contradictory once you separate being sold to from being sure. Buying groups of six to ten are standard for complex purchases, each member bringing several pieces of independent research. Buyers consistently ask for less selling and more evidence. And budgets are flat while the workload grows.

Not supported. The recurring claim that sales-led motion is finished. The same research showing two thirds of buyers preferring no rep also shows more than two thirds turning to reps for validation.^[2][4] What has changed is where in the process a human is useful, not whether one is.

References

Every figure in this report is drawn from the sources below. Where a source reports its own survey, the sample and field dates are stated in the text. Links were live at the date of publication.

1. Gartner, “The B2B Buying Journey”, Gartner for Sales insights, on buying group composition and independent research per stakeholder. gartner.com ↩
2. Gartner, “Gartner Sales Survey Finds 67% of B2B Buyers Prefer a Rep-Free Experience”, press release, 9 March 2026. gartner.com ↩
3. Gartner, “Gartner Sales Survey Finds 61% of B2B Buyers Prefer a Rep-Free Buying Experience”, press release, 25 June 2025. gartner.com ↩
4. Gartner, “Gartner Survey Finds 69% of B2B Buyers Turn to Sales Reps to Validate AI-Generated Insights”, press release, 20 May 2026. gartner.com ↩
5. “Gartner: AI Is Reshaping B2B Buying, but Human Sellers Still Close the Confidence Gap”, Demand Gen Report, 2026. demandgenreport.com ↩
6. NetLine, “2025 State of B2B Content Consumption and Demand Report”, ninth edition. netline.com (PDF) ↩
7. “B2B Buyers Say Research and Data Are Key Factors in Content Shareability, Memorability”, Marketing Charts, on buyer content preferences. marketingcharts.com ↩
8. Gartner, “Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey Reveals Marketing Budgets Have Flatlined at 7.7% of Overall Company Revenue”, press release, 12 May 2025. Survey conducted February to March 2025 among 402 CMOs and marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe. gartner.com ↩
9. The CMO Survey, Duke University Fuqua School of Business, January 2026 edition, 308 US marketing leaders. fuqua.duke.edu ↩
10. Google, “Next steps for Privacy Sandbox and tracking protections in Chrome”, Privacy Sandbox blog, 22 April 2025. privacysandbox.google.com ↩