NEW YORK, June 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — iResearch Services‘ second annual benchmark study, Thought Leadership in Practice 2026: Separating Strategic from Sporadic, reveals how organizations plan, produce, and promote thought leadership.

Based on a global survey of 1,000 professionals, the report highlights the gap between organizations that have built true infrastructure for thought leadership and those still treating it as an afterthought.

Key takeaways:

Only 33% of organizations plan distribution from the start
45% of practitioners using LinkedIn for distribution say it delivers their best ROI
Multimethod research is more to lead to business growth (55% vs. 41%)
Practitioners using multiple types of research are more likely to report business growth
Only 2% of respondents avoid AI completely in their thought leadership work

The research finds that 74% of organizations are not operating their thought leadership programs strategically. While 26% of organizations have built the operational discipline that drives real results, the majority are still running programs that generate content without a clear strategy. The data shows that a lack of deliberate governance, rigorous research, and disciplined distribution is the common thread preventing most organizations from crossing from sporadic to strategic.

Distribution is the industry’s biggest unsolved problem. Only 33% of organizations plan for distribution at the ideation stage. Those that do start early are 16 percentage points more likely to report higher brand visibility and 8 points more likely to report new business growth.
Channel strategy matters too. Among organizations using LinkedIn for distribution, 45% say it delivers their best return—the highest of any channel measured.
Breadth of research drives results. Organizations that use three or more research types report significantly more measurable outcomes than those utilizing a single method (3.6 vs. 2.8 on average), particularly when it comes to stronger business growth (55% vs. 41%).
AI is everywhere, governance isn’t. Only 2% of respondents avoid AI completely in their thought leadership work, but nearly a third report an absence of formal policies governing its use in their workflows.

“When we look at the data, we see clear patterns in organizations that rate themselves strategic,” says Brittany Williams, SVP Editorial at iResearch Services. “They are more likely to have a dedicated thought leadership team, they have more people involved in the thought leadership process, and they use more forms of research. We’re excited to have some quantitative results that we feel help reflect the reality of thought leadership in practice today, including how organizations can pursue more strategic programs.”

Thought Leadership in Practice 2026 is available now here.

About iResearch Services
iResearch Services is a global B2B thought leadership agency connecting data-driven insights, expert guidance, storytelling, and strategic activation to business growth. Working with Fortune 500 companies including IBM, PwC, LinkedIn, and Google, the agency delivers end-to-end thought leadership solutions.