The B2B CMO became the majority (59.6%). And 57% of them are in companies of up to 50 people

The B2B company CMO is already the majority in Brazil, and most of them work in a small company. The Brazilian CMO X-Ray mapped 17,633 leaders: 59.6% are B2B, and 57% of those work in companies of up to 50 people. In our reading, this CMO decides with a short team and a lot of pressure.

Who the X-Ray mapped

The study is by Driva, in partnership with B2B Insiders, and was released in May 2026. It mapped 17,633 directors and CMOs active in Brazil, from 52.9 million profiles and 88.1 million professional experiences, across 2.54 million companies.

Of the 17,633, 10,518 are from B2B marketing (59.6%) and 4,027 from B2C (22.8%). B2B leads, and by a good margin.

A decade of growth

According to the study, B2B marketing leadership grew 6.6 times in the last decade. The pace of new B2B CMOs entering also rose: there were 240 in 2015, 1,591 in 2024 and 1,860 in 2025.

Small company, short-lived role

57% of B2B CMOs are in companies of up to 50 employees. The average tenure in the CMO role is 3.4 years. Whoever leads marketing in a company that size usually has a short team and a short deadline to show results. This conclusion is ours, not the study’s.

Where they come from

55.9% of B2B CMOs came through advertising agencies. In B2C, the number is 19.2%. In our reading, that helps explain B2B’s strength in campaign, creativity and supplier relationships. The study doesn’t state that relationship.

What barely exists

The leadership roles in growth marketing (128), performance marketing (78) and product marketing (33) add up to less than 5% of marketing leadership. They are the functions most tied to data, funnel and product, exactly the ones the CMO of a small company needs and can rarely hire.

How to structure without a big team

The way out we defend is to treat part of these functions as a system, not as a job opening. Four fronts:

1. Unify media, CRM and sales data in one place, so the CMO sees the whole funnel.
2. Automate the reading of performance, which eats up hours every week.
3. Reserve people’s time for what depends on people: positioning, message, relationship with sales.
4. Hire the rare functions by project, before opening a fixed role.

We detail these functions in growth, performance and product marketing without hiring a team and the model in marketing intelligence for small teams. If your team is the size the study describes, talk to us on the marketing intelligence page.

Frequently asked

If the B2B CMO is already the majority, why is there almost no leadership in growth, performance and product marketing?

Because most of these CMOs work in a company of up to 50 people (57%), where a fixed role for each function doesn’t fit. The three roles add up to less than 5% of marketing leadership, but the study measures titles, not who does the work. In our reading, the functions exist, just spread between the CMO and whoever is available. The study doesn’t explain the reason.

Can a CMO who stays on average 3.4 years in the role build a data operation?

If the operation depends on the person, it leaves with them. That’s why we defend that the data base, the dashboard and the reading routine stay in the company, not in one professional’s head. It’s the design we follow in NorthStar’s marketing intelligence: we build and run the base with your team, so the next management inherits the system.

Isn't hiring growth and performance by project just outsourcing the problem?

It can be, if there’s no unified data and someone inside the company who owns the result. A project without measurement becomes a report. The path we recommend starts by bringing media, CRM and sales into one place, defining who is accountable for the number and only then hiring the rare functions by project, measuring each one’s effect.

Can you trust the X-Ray numbers?

As a trend portrait, yes, with three cautions. The study maps professional profiles and declared titles, not what each person actually does. The “6.6x” in the headline compares 2024 with 2015 (from 240 to 1,591 new B2B CMOs), not the whole decade. And the sum of the three rare roles, 239 people, is small in any comparison. It’s worth using the study to ask better questions, not as a ruler for your market.

What should a small-company CMO check first?

Pick a revenue question, like “which channel brings the customer who stays?”, and see how long it takes to answer it with today’s data. If it takes days, the problem is the base, not the lack of people. That’s the starting point of a diagnosis of marketing intelligence for small teams.

Sources

• Mundo do Marketing. B2B marketing grows 6.6x in Brazil and already holds 59.6% of CMOs, 20/05/2026, on the Brazilian CMO X-Ray (Driva + B2B Insiders). mundodomarketing.com.br