Content marketing success falls to 12-year low as AI adoption rises to 92%

According to Orbit Media's annual blogging survey of 1,042 content marketers, only 14% reported strong blog results—the lowest level in 12 years and down from 26% in 2022. Despite 92% AI adoption, the research found that using AI showed no relationship with stronger performance. Instead, marketers who conducted keyword research, collaborated with experts, performed original research, used paid promotion, maintained formal editing, and tracked analytics were significantly more likely to succeed. Influencer collaboration showed the strongest correlation, with practitioners 2.6 times more likely to report strong results, yet adoption fell from 25% in 2017 to just 7% today. The decline reflects marketers dropping these proven practices rather than AI adoption itself causing the slide; while AI reduced average post production time from over 4 hours to 3 hours 20 minutes, that efficiency gain did not translate to better outcomes.