ANA Buyer Group Index benchmarks B2B buying committees
The Association of National Advertisers launched a new Buyer Group Index at its 2026 Masters of B2B week. The index is an industry benchmark for how companies manage the growing complexity of B2B buying committees. The ANA also released a Confident Marketer study that adds CFO input for the first time. Both tools aim to give marketers harder data on how deals really get made.
What the ANA Buyer Group Index and Confident Marketer study cover
The Buyer Group Index focuses on the buying committee. Modern B2B purchases now involve many people across a company. The index gives the industry a way to measure how well firms manage that group.
The 2026 Confident Marketer study takes a different cut. For the first time, it adds quantitative input from CFOs next to input from CMOs. The study maps how marketing and finance view each other’s role in growth. That pairing matters as marketing faces more pressure to prove its impact on revenue.
The ANA shared both at its Masters of B2B Marketing Conference. The event ran June 3 to 5 in Chicago and was sold out, with about 500 attendees. Dagmara Szulce, who leads the ANA’s B2B Practice, framed the week around bringing data to the idea of B2B mastery.
Who launched the ANA Buyer Group Index
The new research was reported by The Drum on June 1, 2026. The ANA commissioned the work as part of a wider push to tie B2B brand building to business value. Full data tables were not public at the time of the conference. Marketers should check the ANA for the complete figures as they publish.
How the Buyer Group Index fits B2B buying trends
B2B buying keeps getting more complex. Large groups now shape each purchase, and most research happens before any sales call. SSS analysis found that buyers spend far more time in AI search than with sales teams. A benchmark for buying groups speaks straight to that reality.
The trend also shows up in stalled deals. SSS has written about the conviction gap that keeps buyers from committing. When a committee cannot reach agreement, the deal slows. Account-based programs try to address this. The 2026 ABM benchmark showed most B2B marketers now focus on winning whole accounts rather than single leads.
Talking Shift: what the Buyer Group Index means for B2B brands
A benchmark for buying groups is overdue. Start Some Shift has long argued that most B2B brands sell to a committee rather than a single buyer. The ANA index puts a number on that truth. It gives marketers a shared way to talk about committee complexity with the C-suite.
The deeper point centers on the buyer. The old funnel view misses how groups really decide. Every member of a buying group runs their own research first. Many start in AI search and form a view before sales hears from them. Brands that map each role in the group will win more often. Our Binary Buyer Audit was built for exactly this work. The brands that treat the committee as the real customer will pull ahead.
What B2B marketers should do about buying group complexity
- Map every role in your typical buying committee before your next campaign.
- Benchmark your own committee data once the ANA publishes full figures.
- Brief finance with the Confident Marketer framing to align on growth.
- Build content for each member of the group, including those beyond the lead contact.
- Audit how your brand shows up in AI search, where buyers start.
- Use a buyer framework to find gaps in how you reach the group.
What to watch next from the ANA Buyer Group Index
Watch for the full Buyer Group Index data once the ANA publishes it. The first figures will set the baseline for future years. Watch how the CFO input in the Confident Marketer study shapes budget talks. If finance and marketing align on the numbers, B2B teams could win more support for brand work.
