Market Research & Polling Services

Brief Excerpt from Industry Overview Chapter:

Companies in this industry systematically gather, record, tabulate, and present marketing and public opinion data. Major companies include Forrester Research, Gartner, SymphonyIRI, and Westat (headquartered in the US); Nielsen Holdings (Netherlands); GfK (Germany); Ipsos (France); and INTAGE (Japan).

Worldwide, the market research industry generates about $48 billion in annual revenue. The US and EU dominate the global industry. Countries with growing middle classes, such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China, are emerging markets for market research services.

The US market research services industry includes about 4,800 companies with combined annual revenue of about $17 billion and is expected to grow at a low rate in the next two years. Economic uncertainty, dependence on corporate profits, and growing availability of online data may contribute to the low growth.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven primarily by the health of the economy and corporate profits. The profitability of individual companies depends on managing costs and maintaining a steady flow of work. Large companies have advantages in providing a variety of research and ancillary services to large customers, and in achieving economies of scale in marketing and computerized operations. Small companies can compete successfully by specializing in a research methodology or in emerging niche knowledge areas. The industry is concentrated: the top 50 companies generate about 55 percent of industry revenue.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major services are marketing research, which accounts for over 90 percent of industry revenue, and public opinion polling. Other services...