Researchers report ‘strong’ prospects for 2012 – survey

“2011 held its own and many anticipate the same to be true for the coming year,” Schlesinger’s study says.

The majority of respondents to the survey, conducted in January, reported signs that business is stabilising, with 70% saying revenue was up in 2011 and most expecting further rises this year despite economic uncertainty.

Innovation also seemed to be holding up, with two-thirds of respondents saying they were using new methodologies to meet clients’ objectives.

Like last year, most respondents disagreed that research projects are getting smaller; echoing the conclusions of a recent client survey by Relish Research which predicted that shrinking budgets will mean larger projects, but fewer of them.

Participants in the survey were a mix of research managers, directors and execs at agencies and client companies.

The results contrast with that of RSM’s recent survey, also of UK-based researchers, which found confidence was down this year compared to last year.