Market Research in Norway

The market for market and opinion research in Norway was worth US$71 million in 2001, according to ESOMAR's latest global market research study, marking it as a mature sector in the European arena.

With a population of 4 million, market research spend per capita in Norway is roughly equal to its neighbours Finland (MR spend US$ 75, population 5 million, Denmark (MR spend US$ 90 million, population 5 million), and Sweden with a MR turnover of US$ 219 million and a population of 9 million.

The sector grew by 1% over the previous year. This compares to an average growth of about 10% over the past ten years. This slower growth can be attributed to the slowdown in the world economy and also to the fact that this is a maturing market, where fast growth rates are not expected in the coming period. There are just four major market research companies in Norway, and the fact that one of them had major difficulties last year, has also had its impact on the growth of the industry overall.

The Norwegian research industry employs an estimated 1100 people, of whom just above half are interviewers and the others are researchers, data processors, and support staff.

So who is buying research? A large part of research is commissioned by manufacturing companies. Other key sectors commissioning research in Norway are telecommunications and the media.

Most of market research in Norway (95%) is commissioned for domestic companies. Just 5% of the total turnover is from research conducted international companies reflecting the fact that few international companies are headquartered in Norway. This is in contrast to Sweden where 18% of research is for international companies, and to Finland, where the figure is 13%.

26% of research turnover in Norway is generated by continuous, ongoing research, while 74% of turnover still comes from ad hoc projects. Of these ad hoc projects, 66% of Norwegian research is quantitative, 8% qualitative. A quarter of quantitative interviews are conducted face to face, and another two thirds of the interviews are carried out by telephone.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.