Results from the Global Market Research report for 2014 show that smaller markets such as Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria have seen growth, though results overall remain quite mixed, especially from the largest European markets.

Global industry growth slowed from 0.7% in 2013 to 0.1% in 2014, and North America overtook Europe to become the biggest region in 2013 and 2014: total industry turnover in 2014 is estimated to have been US$ 43,864m, US$ 3,195m of which can be attributed to the US. This follows new figures provided to Esomar for the market’s 2013 turnover – the backdated figures represent a broader market, such as services directly from clients as well as market research analytics.

China’s market share overtook Japan’s in 2014 at US$ 1,780m and US$ 1,730m respectively, placing China fifth globally and first within the Asia Pacific region for the first time. The Middle East became the fastest growing market in 2014, with a year-on-year rate of 13.4% ( 9.1% after inflation), and Africa became the second fastest growing region while the Latin American regional market continued to decline.