Flat Year for UK Research Sector

The final year's figures from the outgoing British Market Research Association (BMRA) reveal that overall industry revenues grew by just 2.5% in 2005 to a value of £1.32 billion, delivering at best a flat year against inflation.

However, the overall result masks a sharp difference between domestic and international markets in the performance of UK-based market research companies. The domestic sector, which makes up 79% of the market, grew by 4.7% on the previous year, significantly above inflation. At the same time, the international sector, which makes up 21% of the market, declined by 5.0%, undoing about half the strong growth achieved in 2004.

The industry league table of market research agency performance suggests that some of the largest companies may have been distracted by consolidation activity.

There is also evidence throughout the table that the international market proved more difficult for some companies than others, with much more year-on-year movement in the rankings for international turnover than for domestic.

According to Ivor Stocker, Chairman of the BMRA leading up to its recent merger with the MRS, 'Continued uneasiness about global security and the impact of rising oil prices may have dampened spending among some of the multi-nationals, In addition, while we believe that the increasing use of online data collection methods is delivering real benefits to clients in terms of faster results at lower cost, this trend that may also be acting as a partial brake on overall revenue growth in the industry. For these reasons, we are not anticipating significant growth above inflation in 2006.'

The industry size estimate is based on returns from BMRA members accounting for around two-thirds of the Association's turnover. Due to restrictions under US Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, WPP companies (including BMRB, Millward Brown and Research International) are not permitted to submit returns of unaudited 2005 results. They are, however, included in the industry total estimates by applying growth at the average rate of the reporting members.

The BMRA was officially merged with the MRS on 1st April, but will continue to offer education courses until July 2006. Its web site is still online at www.bmra.org.uk and the league tables are available for download at www.bmra.org.uk/documents/386.pdf .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.