Median tenure for chief marketing officers (CMOs) has fallen 35% since 2010, according to a new study by Findem and CMO Huddles examining more than 13 000 current US CMOs.
The CMO Tenure Study combines a historical analysis of CMO appointments with a snapshot of current CMOs at companies with 100 or more employees.
It found that median tenure fell from four years among CMOs who started in 2010 to 2.6 years for the 2022 start cohort, the most recent cohort considered mature enough for a stable tenure analysis.
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Among current CMOs, median tenure in the role is 36 months. A third have been in their positions for five years or more, while 30% have been in their roles for less than 18 months.
Company ownership is also associated with tenure. CMOs at public companies have an average tenure of four years, compared with 3.1 years at private equity-backed companies and 2.6 years at venture capital-backed businesses.
Shorter than CEO tenure
CMO tenure is shorter than CEO tenure, with current CMOs recording a median tenure of 36 months compared with 51 months for CEOs.
The study also found that the CMO pipeline is increasingly made up of first-time appointments. Among CMOs appointed in 2026, 60% are first-time CMOs, while 19% were promoted internally. Internal promotions have accounted for between 18% and 21% of CMO appointments since 2020.
Other findings include that women make up 55% of current CMOs, compared with 62% of the broader marketing workforce. Fractional and interim CMO appointments increased from 2.9% of appointments in 2020 to 8.8% in 2024, before declining to 8.2% in 2025 and 7.8% in partial-year 2026.
The study also found that Asian, black and Latino CMO starts accounted for 16% of appointments in partial-year 2026, down from a range of 19% to 22% between 2020 and 2025.
Defining the CMO mandate
Drew Neisser, CEO of CMO Huddles, said the findings indicate that companies are increasingly expecting CMOs to deliver growth, reposition businesses, build demand and demonstrate marketing impact within shorter timeframes.
“The data is screaming that too many CMOs are being handed transformation-sized mandates on trial-period timelines,” he said.
The research is based on Findem’s employment and company data, rather than self-reported survey responses, allowing the researchers to track career movements, appointments, tenure and organisational context.
Liv Anderman, CMO of Findem, said the findings point to the importance of defining the CMO’s mandate, aligning executive teams around performance measures and giving marketing leaders sufficient authority and time to deliver.
The study covers US-based CMOs and does not provide equivalent data for South Africa or other markets.
