US MR Growth of 1.6%, Says Honomichl

US research revenue was up 1.6% to $8.98bn in 2008, according to the annual report by Jack Honomichl. This compares with growth of 6% in 2007.

The 2007 growth came despite a US workforce reduction of c.1,300 among the top 50 firms.

In 2008, the top 50 agencies brought in just over $8bn, compared with total US revenue of $7.8bn in 2007. Seventeen of the top 50 saw a decline in growth.

However, lower down the list, high revenue growth was achieved by Public Opinion Strategies (up 78.7% to $27.7m), Roger Green & Associates (up 40.7% to $11.4m), MarketVision Research (up 30.5% to $21.4m), and The Link Group (up 26.9% to $15.1m).

This year, five agencies made it on to the list for the first time: online customer communities developer Communispace at number 27; social media analysis specialist Iconoculture at number 40; full service agency CMI at number 45; custom market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey at number 47; and healthcare researcher Roger Green & Associates at number 50.

US revenue for the top 50 US agencies was as follows:

US Rank	Organization	US Research Revenues($ millions)	% change from 2007
1	Nielsen	$2.231m	Down 0.4%
2	Kantar	$918m(Kantar Group = $556m/TNS = $361m)	Down 5.1%
3	IMS Health	$842m	Up 3.1%
4	Westat	$842m	Up 0.5%
5	IRI	$454m	Up 3%
6	Arbitron	$364m	Up 9.4%
7	GfK USA	$313m	Down 2.2%
8	Ipsos	$307m	Up 4.2%
9	Synovate	$245m	Down 2.8%
10	Maritz Research	$197m	Up 5.3%

Rate of growth from year to year has been adjusted so as not to include revenue gains or losses from acquisitions or divestitures.


The Honomichl Top 50 is published by the American Marketing Association magazine, Marketing News.