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Market research in the
United
States grew in 2005 by 5.5% (2.1%
adjusted for inflation), to $7,503.4 million. The growth rate was
down from both the previous year's 9.9% (7.2% after inflation) and
the post-inflation 5.2% average for the 17-year period from 1988 to
2004.
So reports Jack
Honomichl in his annual review of the industry carried out for the
American Marketing Association in collaboration with Inside Research, the
newsletter he founded.
There were, Honomichl
says, "several main reasons for this decline. For one, this annual
compilation is driven in large part by the fortunes of VNU...In
2005, VNU's US-only revenue was up, but only by 3.8%, compared with
11.5% in 2004. Also TNS saw its
U.S.
revenue go down last year, by 4.2%.
"Finally, of the 50
largest US-based firms 19 saw revenue decline in 2005 or fail to
grow enough to cover the year's inflation rate
(3.4%)."
At the same time,
however, "numerous firms saw revenue grow 10% or more. It seems safe
to hypothesise that, to some degree, the growth they enjoyed was at
the expense of competitors."
Honomichl's review
covers 193 companies (the 50 biggest plus 143 other members of the
CASRO trade association). Together they have 34,616 full-time
employees in the
US.
On Honomichl's Top 50
table note that VNU, at number one, appears as a single entity,
rather than divided into its constituent agencies, such as ACNielsen
and Nielsen Media Research. The same is true of Kantar, WPP's MR
division, including Millward Brown and Research International, which
moved up from sixth place in 2004 to third
place.
TNS fell from fourth
place in the table to sixth, just ahead of GFK, which rose from 15th
to seventh thanks to its takeover of NOP. Maritz Research achieved a
particularly good growth figure of 22.5%, rising from 13th to 11th
place.
TOP
25 US
MARKET RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS 2005
|
Rank
2005 |
Rank
2004 |
Organisation
|
US
Revenue
2005 ($m) |
Change
from
2004 (%) |
|
1 |
1 |
VNU |
1,864.0
|
+3.8
|
|
2 |
2 |
IMS Health
|
634.3 |
+7.1
|
|
3 |
6 |
Kantar
|
439.2 |
+6.7
|
|
4 |
3 |
Westat
|
420.4 |
+5.7
|
|
5 |
5 |
Information Resources Inc.
|
409.0 |
+7.0
|
|
6 |
4 |
TNS |
379.5 |
-4.2
|
|
7 |
15 |
GfK |
316.3 |
3.9
|
|
8 |
7 |
Arbitron
|
297.6 |
+3.8
|
|
9 |
9 |
Ipsos |
226.2 |
+11.2
|
|
10 |
10 |
Synovate
|
216.5 |
+11.0
|
|
11 |
12 |
Maritz Research
|
164.2 |
+22.5
|
|
12 |
11 |
Harris Interactive
|
162.2 |
+4.8
|
|
13 |
12 |
J D Power
|
152.2 |
+14.0
|
|
14 |
14 |
NPD Group
|
128.3 |
+14.6
|
|
15 |
16 |
Opinion Resesarch Corp.
|
94.2 |
+3.0
|
|
16 |
17 |
Lieberman Research
|
65.8 |
-21
|
|
17 |
18 |
Abt Associates
|
52.2 |
+25.8
|
|
18 |
21 |
comScore Networks
|
44.9 |
+19.7
|
|
19 |
19 |
Market Strategies
|
43.0 |
+13.5
|
|
20 |
- |
MVL Group
|
38.7 |
+10.6
|
|
21 |
20 |
Burke |
37.1 |
NC |
|
22 |
23 |
OTX |
33.2 |
+11.4
|
|
23 |
26 |
Directions Research
|
33.1 |
+21.3
|
|
24 |
23 |
Knowledge Networks
|
31.4 |
+5.4
|
|
25 |
22 |
MORPACE
|
29.3 |
-5.8
|
Source:
Jack Honomichl/Inside Research
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