Page Study Confirms Ccos Face Expanding Remits, Limited Resources

(MENAFN- PRovoke) NEW YORK - As luxe as being part of the C-suite may sound, it's no surprise that being a CCO isn't getting any easier. Page's new Navigator trends report confirms the role is growing in scope, but for a majority of chief communicators, budgets and teams aren't keeping pace.

The survey of 157 organizations across 14 sectors and 18 countries, conducted earlier this year, makes the imbalance clear. Nearly 60% of respondents say their functions lack the resources to succeed, even though more than three-quarters reported budgets that either grew or held steady over the past two years.

The average operating budget for a CCO is $17 million, with a median of $8.5 million, underscoring communications as a core enterprise function. Yet regional differences remain stark, with North American leaders consistently operating with smaller budgets than their European peers, even after controlling for size and sector.

“The CEO is becoming more central, and the function is growing, but not evenly,” said Page CEO Rochelle Ford.“Sixty percent say they don't have the resources to succeed.”

The report, released today, is the first part of the organization's new Page Navigator initiative, designed to get a firm grasp on the state of the CCO function with the ultimate goal of helping comms leaders address and overcome the challenges that come with it. The other two parts include a functional framework with member-submitted org charts and dashboards, and affinity groups that encourage small-group collaboration. Ford calls it“a comprehensive system for functional transformation” - a way to give CCOs both credible evidence for advocating with CEOs and CFOs and practical models for rethinking their teams.

The benchmark study found staffing trends are also reshaping the function. Growth is strongest in digital communications, data analytics, employee engagement, reputation data and corporate brand. At the same time, headcount has declined sharply in ESG, DEI and social impact roles, areas that only recently were well resourced. Most reductions were tied to enterprise-wide downsizing rather than communications performance, but the result is the same: expanding mandates with leaner teams.

Remits continue to grow, varying by geography and industry. Nearly all CCOs oversee media relations, crisis management and employee communications. European leaders are five times more likely than North Americans to manage government affairs, while B2C companies are only half as likely as B2B peers to assign DEI communications to their comms teams. Many organizations also contend with“shadow functions” - sizable numbers of communicators working outside the CCO's direct authority.

Measurement remains a weak spot. Despite years of pressure to focus on outcomes, the most common metrics are still activity-based: media exposure, social engagement and employee satisfaction. Fewer CCOs tie their reporting to business outcomes such as stakeholder behavior or financial performance.

Other key findings include:

• Budgets in energy/utilities (median $15 million) and consumer goods/services ($11 million) are the largest; chemicals/basic resources ($4 million) and education/NGOs ($5 million) the smallest.

• Typical team size is a median of 30 full-time employees, with consumer goods and energy/utilities averaging the biggest teams and tech and financial services the leanest.

• About 20% of organizations have more communicators working outside the CCO function than inside - so-called“shadow functions” that dilute alignment.

• Four emerging CCO archetypes highlight the diverse ways the role is evolving depending on organization type, size and scope.

  
  

“This report lays out the problems plainly, but more importantly, it offers a way for CCOs to remedy them,” said Ford.“We want to level the playing field by helping leaders who don't always have the resources they need. That means creating spaces for peer learning, sharing real-world tools, and showing how others are structuring their functions so no one has to start from scratch.”

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