Funnel vs Whatagraph

CMO-CFO Relations: A Two-Way Street

Funnel's Carl Ronander argues that CMO-CFO relationships are often one-sided, with marketers expected to adopt finance's language while finance fails to understand modern marketing's long-term value. He emphasizes the need for marketers to speak in credible data, while CFOs must recognize that digital's deterministic click-based era has ended due to privacy regulations and AI-driven zero-click searches. Ronander points to Nike's CFO David Denton and CMO Nicole Graham as a live test case. He references Funnel research showing only 13% of marketers communicate very well with finance, and LinkedIn B2B Institute data indicating 96% of B2B marketers expect campaign effects within two weeks—which he calls unrealistic. The article advocates for aligning on long-term investment frameworks, noting that CMO tenures are shrinking to 4.1 years, underscoring the need for mutual understanding and better reporting.

• Funnel's research found only 13% of marketers communicate very well with finance.
• 68% of US Google searches ended without a click in the first four months of 2026.
• LinkedIn B2B Institute data shows 96% of B2B marketers expect main campaign effects within two weeks.

Paid Search Still Growing Despite Answer Engines

A Funnel report analyzing ad spend from over 5,000 companies finds paid search continuing to grow despite the rise of answer engines and generative search. Paid search spend rose 122% in the 15 months to April 2026 in the US (from $45m to $100m), with most growth concentrated in Google/Alphabet and Meta/Facebook. Social media spend grew faster (150%) over the same period and is increasing its share of total digital spend, with TikTok showing rapid growth in EMEA. APAC experienced very strong growth overall. Digital ad spend is also becoming more seasonal, with Black Friday seeing large year-on-year increases across regions, particularly on social channels.

• Funnel, a marketing intel platform, claims to handle 11% of all global digital ad spend.
• Paid search spend grew 122% in the 15 months leading up to April 2026 in the US, increasing from $45m to $100m.
• Google Ads saw year-on-year growth (112% in EMEA to $110m; 41% in the US to $99m); Facebook/Meta Ads grew 148% in EMEA to $62m and 211% in the US to $84m.

Meet Whatagraph IQ Agents: Agents that do the work for you

Whatagraph has launched a new product feature called IQ Agents, which are AI agents designed to automate marketing workflows. The blog post highlights this as a product news item, indicating a significant product launch.