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Honomichl: Top 50 Firms See 5.1% US Growth in 2011
The fifty largest research firms reported a 5.1% increase in US-based aggregated revenues to $9.2 billion in 2011, according to the 39th annual report by industry authority Jack Honomichl.
 The base for this 2011 analysis is revenue reported by 204 research companies for US operations only. These 204 firms employed 38,305 full-time employees in 2011, an estimated increase of 7.9% from 2010.
In this year's report, Nielsen and Kantar retained their top and second slots, with the former accounting for 25% of all US revenue.
Since Ipsos' acquisition of Synovate, the firm has leapt to third position on the list, with combined revenues of $624m. In turn IMS Health has dropped from third position last year to number eight in this year's ranking - this follows its takeover by private investors, upon which the firm has adjusted its definition of market research, resulting in a smaller research-only revenue input.
At the bottom of the listing, C&R Research Services (No. 38 last year) and Peryam & Kroll Research (No. 44 last year) chose not to submit revenue figures for the 2011 compilation. Additionally, political pollster Public Opinion Strategies (No. 35 last year) dropped off the list because of a decline in revenue, which surges in election years and wanes in others.
Newcomers taking these firms' places are YouGov, the US subsidiary of the UK-based survey firm; StrategyOne; Chadwick Martin Bailey; and The Link Group.
During the year, 18 of the Top 50 either experienced a decline in 2011 revenues, or did not report increases sufficient to cover inflation.
The Top 10 agencies are:
| 2011 |
2010 |
Organisation |
US research
revenue
($ millions) |
% change
from 2009 |
Non US
research
revenue
($ millions) |
No. of
full time
staff |
| 1 |
1 |
Nielsen |
2,516.0 |
4.1 |
2,837.0 |
9,949 |
| 2 |
2 |
Kantar |
929.4 |
-0.5 |
2,402.4 |
4,135 |
| 3 |
- |
Ipsos |
624.3 |
-0.6 |
2,130.4 |
2,193 |
| - |
7 |
Ipsos |
389.9 |
-0.6 |
1,508.9 |
1,364 |
| - |
9 |
Synovate |
234.4 |
-0.6 |
621.5 |
829 |
| 4 |
5 |
Westat Inc. |
506.5 |
11.2 |
- |
1,947 |
| 5 |
4 |
SymphonyIRI Group Inc. |
465.3 |
1.8 |
298.9 |
1,345 |
| 6 |
6 |
Arbitron |
415.9 |
6.4 |
6.4 |
954 |
| 7 |
8 |
GfK USA |
279.0 |
-5.4 |
1,635.0 |
916 |
| 8 |
3 |
IMS Health Inc. |
270.0 |
7.0 |
480.0 |
540 |
| 9 |
10 |
The NPD Group Inc. |
188.9 |
7.9 |
76.4 |
905 |
| 10 |
11 |
ICF International Inc. |
177.9 |
16.1 |
49.6 |
1,138 |
* IMS adjusted its definition of research, as above
The Honomichl Top 50 is compiled by Jack Honomichl and his associate Larry Gold, and published by the American Marketing Association magazine, Marketing News: www.marketingpower.com .
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