A study of 700 market research clients and suppliers by GfK and the Institute for International Research (IIR) revealed that when asked to identify their ‘single most important source of data for insights creation two years from now’, 30% of clients and 27% of suppliers chose ‘consumer-specific data collected passively’. This is comparable to the proportion selecting ‘custom surveys in any mode’, chosen by 29% of both clients and suppliers.

But when asked how much passive measurement they were doing now — and expect to do — 68% of clients and 69% of suppliers said they were doing none today and don’t expect to start doing so in the next two years. Around a quarter of each group said they were doing none today but expect to be doing some two years from now.

The study also revealed that suppliers were more likely to cite data quality as the biggest gap in the market research industry today ( 20% vs 15% for clients).