Market Research

Globally, the market research industry generates about $81 billion in revenue, with the United States market research industry representing nearly $32 billion of that business. Nielsen and IQVIA Holdings account for a large percentage of the market share, as reported by the research group IBISWorld. In 2023, there were 43,196 market research businesses in the United States. The market research industry experienced a slump from about 2007 through 2010, during the recession, and experienced another slump in 2020 and 2021, due to the pandemic. The industry has not yet recovered to its pre-pandemic levels but there has been steady growth, particularly due to companies investing in market research to better understand the effects of the pandemic on consumers. The economy has been improving recently and companies have had more money to invest in developing new products and learning more about how to attract customers, and have been able to allocate more money for market research and market research tools.

According to a report by the research group MarTech, marketing budgets represented about 6 percent of an average company's total revenue in 2021. By the following year, that number had risen to nearly 10 percent. Companies are still being conservative, however, with their market research spending, and chief marketing officers are being pressured to reduce their marketing technology budgets and still deliver returns on investments. In 2023, paid media leads comprised nearly 26 percent of marketing research budgets, as reported by Gartner. Marketing technology represented 25 percent of market research budgets in 2023, a 5 percent drop since 2018. Budgets for labor and agencies remained nearly the same in 2023 as they were in 2018, with labor representing a little more than 24 percent and agencies comprising 23 percent of market research budgets.

In 2021, the leading market research company in terms of revenue was IQVIA, generating $5.21 billion in revenue, according to a report by Statista. IQVIA is a multinational company that offers market measurement for life sciences companies and employs about 86,000 people. The second leading market research company was Gartner, with $4.73 billion in revenue in 2021. Gartner is a research and advisory company that operates in the U.S., Canada, and internationally, and employs about 19,500 people. Among the next largest market research organizations in terms of revenue for 2021 were: SalesForce $3.9 billion; Adobe Systems, $3.87 billion; Nielsen, $3.5 billion; Kantar, $3.03 billion; Ipsos, $2.54 billion; IHS Markit, $2.13 billion; CoStar Group, $1.94 billion; and NielsenIQ, $1.84 billion.

Market research companies continue to expand their services and grow their revenue by forming strategic partnerships and alliances. Quirk's Media reported on several agreements between research companies that are of note in the marketing industry. Among the top noted was the multi-year partnership that was established in 2019 by Comscore and NBCUniversal Owned Stations (including 40 television stations and Telemundo-owned stations). This partnership allows NBC- and Telemundo-owned stations to use Comscore's "linear TV currency as well as its local mobile and desktop insights to enhance how the stations measure their performance. The stations will also use Comscore's automotive, political, and consumer targeting segments." The partnership has recently expanded, with NBCUniversal certifying Comscore as a trusted partner for planning, transacting, and evaluating media.

Quirk's also highlighted the agreement between the research organization The NPD Group and the U.S. Census Bureau. Per this agreement, The NPD Group regularly delivers data feeds to the monthly retail programs of the Census Bureau, with the purpose of reducing the burden on retailers to respond to Census Bureau data requests.

Market research companies and divisions of companies that made the Quirk's list include the launch of SampleNinja, which is a panel management software solutions company with headquarters in Austin, Texas, and an office in London. MRI-Simmons was created by a joint venture of GfK MIR and Simmons Research. Periscope LLC, a research and strategy agency based in Los Angeles, also recently launched; its "approach is rooted in traditional research and incorporates principles of design, journalism, and management consulting." MIG Global combined its specialist agencies to launch the market research group Savanta in 2019. This group has offices in North America and the United Kingdom, and offers services such as data collection and analysis, and research and intelligence products.

Many companies are working with research organizations to learn more about their customers' attitudes, behaviors, and preferences. Some recent examples of new accounts and projects for market research companies include Cardinal Health, a health care services company, signing on Nielsen for its U.S. analytics provider. Nielsen provides Cardinal Health with retail-syndicated market and panel data. Casey's General Stores Inc., a convenience store chain with stores through the Midwest and the South, also expanded contract services with Nielsen, for data insights and analytics, including census store information.

Salaries for market research professionals vary depending upon the nature of the job and the type of employer. In general, market research directors earn high salaries compared to market research analysts, statisticians, and survey researchers. Salary.com reported that in 2023, market research directors had a median annual salary of $193,714; the salary range was usually from $174,670 up to $213,625.

In 2023, the industries that employed the highest level of market research analysts were management, scientific, and technical consulting services; finance and insurance; wholesale trade; management of companies and enterprises; and publishing industries (not including Internet), according to the Department of Labor. The top five states that employed the most market research analysts and marketing specialists were California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Illinois. The average annual salary for market research analysts in 2022 was $68,230.

Statisticians earned an average annual salary of $98,920 in 2022. The majority of statisticians work for scientific research and development services, the federal executive branch, state government, health care and social assistance organizations, insurance carriers and related services, and colleges, universities, and professional schools.

In 2022, survey researchers earned an annual average salary of $60,410. Industries that employed the highest concentration of survey researchers included professional, scientific, and technical services, scientific research and development services, grantmaking and giving services; labor, political, and related organizations; and newspaper, periodical, book and directory publishers. Only about 7 percent of survey researchers are self-employed.