UK market research industry growth flat in 2005

The UK MR industry grew by 2.5% in 2005 – under half the growth recorded in the previous year, according to figures released by the British Market Research Association (BMRA).

The value of the UK market research industry last year was pegged at £1.32bn, compared to £1.29bn in 2004.

Taking inflation into account, the industry had “at best a flat year”, said the BMRA.

Domestic sector revenue, which makes up 79% of the market, rose 4.7% year-on-year compared to 3% in 2004. The international sector meanwhile declined by 5.0%, undoing about half the strong growth of 12.8% achieved the previous year.

Ivor Stocker, chairman of the BMRA, said: “Continued uneasiness about global security and the impact of rising oil prices may have dampened spending among some of the multi-nationals.”

“In addition, while we believe that the increasing use of on-line data collection methods is delivering real benefits to clients in terms of faster results at lower cost, this trend may also be acting as a partial brake on overall revenue growth in the industry.”

In light of these factors, the BMRA says it does not expect to see “significant” market growth above inflation for 2006.

BMRA's league table of UK agencies – excluding WPP companies BMRB, Millward Brown and Research International, which are prevented from submitting unaudited results by the US Sarbanes-Oxley act – puts TNS in first place, followed by Ipsos Mori and GfK NOP.

The top ten's best performers were Flamingo International, with growth of 30.1%, then Ipsos Mori (15.8%) and Quaestor Research & Marketing Services (6.1%).

Agencies reporting a slide in revenue were Incepta Marketing Intelligence (-14.1%), Marketing Sciences (-8.7%), TNS (-5%), GfK NOP (-4.7%) and Lorien Research (-3.1%).

BMRA's full league table can be downloaded now by clicking here.

Related links:

UK MR revenues rise 5.4% in 2004