Revenue Up 4% for US Insights 'Top 50'

Research revenue for the Top 50 US-based insights and data analytics companies rose 4% to $48 billion in 2020, even as overall US GDP contracted 3.5% during the global Covid pandemic, according to the Insights Association's Top 50 Report.

Authored this year by Michael Brereton, with the Master of Science in Marketing Research Program at Michigan State University, The Top 50 Report is now published by the Insights Association (IA), in partnership with industry consultant Diane Bowers, Outsell, and ESOMAR. According to the IA, the ability of the insights and analytics sector to 'weather the storm' of 2020, contrasts with the impact felt during the 2008-2009 recession, when the Top 50 aggregate revenue contracted 3.5%, while overall US market GDP fell just 2.5%.

Originally created by long-time research industry journalists Jack Honomichl and Larry Gold, and now in its 48th year, the 2021 Insights & Analytics Market & Top 50 Report highlights double-digit increases posted by companies operating in three sectors: self-service platforms (up 35.4%), enterprise feedback management (up 21.8%) and consulting (which rose 21.2%). The data analytics sector showed 6% growth, while the social media listening, and communities sector reported 6.5% growth.

The inclusion of these largely new sectors makes comparisons with earlier reports and headline figures almost impossible, and the report acknowledges this: around four fifths of its 56 pages are taken up with a discussion of what it calls the 'Established Market Research' sector, constituting only 37% of the total market but corresponding closely to what was covered in the Honomichl and Gold Top 50s. The table below, which includes figures for US operations only, shows the top ten firms in a 'Historical Top 50', which is slightly different' again to the 'Established MR' sector but most precisely mirrors the previous reports.

Melanie Courtright, CEO of the IA, comments on the latest report: 'The newly expanded scope of the Top 50 Report is a true reflection of the breadth of work being done by the companies leading our industry forward. The gains accomplished during a most challenging year should instil confidence that our industry's leading companies are positioned well for the economic recovery.'

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