Global MR Revenues Flat in 2008

Global market research revenues grew 4.5% to $32bn in 2008, according to the ESOMAR Global Market Research Report. However, the organisation says that this equates to a net increase of only 0.4% after taking into account inflation.

Market research revenues in 28 countries showed a decline after inflation, including in 10 of the top 25 market research markets.

North America, which is responsible for nearly one third of all global marketing research revenue, was most clearly impacted by the downturn. US growth was 1.6% year-to-year, but after adjustment for inflation, net decline was 2.1%. Canada fared just as badly with a decline of 2.2% after inflation.

In Europe performance slowed to 4.7% (0.9 percent after inflation), but the UK and Germany managed to buck the trend by both posting 2.5% net growth.

The strongest performing region was Latin America, where growth rates increased by 5.6% after inflation (13.4% actual).

The Asia Pacific region achieved 6.3% year-to-year growth and just 2.1% after inflation, but still fared better than most other regions.

Region	Revenues (US$m)		Absolute growth (%)	Net growth (%)
	2007	2008	2007/08	2007/08
Europe	14,380	16,066	4.7	0.9
North America	9,458	9,629	1.5	-2.1
Asia Pacific	4,006	4,538	6.3	2.1
Latin America	1,418	1,700	13.4	5.6
Middle East & Africa	487	529	12	1.1
World	29,749	32,462	4.5	0.4

Quant research methods accounted for 80% of global research spend, with qual accounting for 14%, and desk and secondary research accounting for 6%.

Online research and online traffic/audience measurement accounted for 10% or more of overall research spending in 22 countries. This was up from 18 countries in 2007.

ESOMAR President Gunilla Broadbent commented: 'Our strong industry growth rate may have reached an inflection point in some regions but this is clearly linked to the economic downturn. The sustained growth in some emerging markets, particularly Latin America, is encouraging.'

Global Market Research 2009 is the 21st annual industry study undertaken by ESOMAR and the 4th to be developed in cooperation with KPMG Advisory.

Web site: www.esomar.org .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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