Market Research & Public Opinion Polling
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 3,800 market research and public opinion polling firms in the US gather, record, tabulate, analyze, and present marketing and public opinion data. Major market research service categories include research conducted over the Internet; research conducted by telephone; face-to-face methods; focus groups; and polling services. More specific types of services include audience measurement; custom research; syndicated research; advisory and consulting services; data collection; and data analytics.
Competition from Alternative Service Providers
Market research and public opinion polling firms face competition from a variety of sources, including strategy consulting firms, client in-house market research departments, publicly available information, and data providers, such as digital media measurement services and print and media firms.
Vulnerability to Economic Conditions
Demand for market research services is sensitive to economic conditions and typically drops during periods of uncertainty.
Industry size & Structure
The average market research firm operates out of a single location, employs fewer than 20 workers, and generates $7.6 million annually.
- The market research and public opinion polling industry consists of about 3,800 firms that employ 74,000 workers and generate $29 billion annually.
- The industry is concentrated at the top and fragmented at the bottom; the top 50 companies account for 58% of industry revenue.
- Large firms, which include Gartner, NPD, and Forrester Research, may have international operations.
Industry Forecast
Market Research & Public Opinion Polling Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Jan 10, 2025 - AI Agents to Gain Wider Adoption in 2025
- Generative AI (GenAI)-powered tools are expected to gain significantly wider adoption by marketers in 2025, according to MarTech. Over the 2024 holiday shopping season, GenAI chatbots drove 13 times more traffic to retail websites than they did during the same period in 2023, according to Adobe. Industry insiders suggest 2025 will be the year that marketers move from AI pilot programs and experiments to full implementation in sales optimization and customer support. AI agents with natural voice capabilities and the ability to respond to customer requests also create new data streams marketers will use to improve customer experience. AI will also help marketers gain insights into the customer journey throughout enterprise systems and departments and streamline campaign improvements.
- In early January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the firm would no longer use fact-checkers and speech restrictions on its Facebook and Instagram apps. Instead, the platforms will implement a community notes system that allows users to flag content that they think could be misinformation or require more context. The community notes system is like that used on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter). Meta said the move comes as the company pivots to a focus on free expression. The company also claims fact-checking has become an unwieldy and complicated distraction that could unfairly silence some users. Critics of the new policy claim that it could cause more misinformation to appear on Meta’s platforms. The Wall Street Journal reported that while the pulling back of content moderation on X alienated some advertisers, a similar scenario was unlikely to play out for Meta’s apps because they offer ad buyers a reliable return on investment.
- Pollsters accurately predicted a close presidential race, but many underestimated Trump’s support for the third time, according to The Wall Street Journal. The results were within the polling margins of error in battleground states – including Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina. However, many surveys didn’t signal the significant gains Trump made compared to 2020. Polling tended to underestimate Trump’s rising popularity among college-educated voters and widening support in the suburbs. Some pollsters suggest they have struggled to reach and include the new voters Trump has added to the voting pool. However, polling accurately predicted Trump’s surging support among Black, Latino, and younger voters.
- The market research and public opinion polling industry is expected to see a slowdown in 2024 after posting solid gains in 2023. The industry’s year-over-year growth reached 6.8% in 2023 but is projected to have fallen to 4.7% in 2024, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. Growth in the market research and public opinion polling industry is forecast to moderate to 4.3% in 2025, then post steady but flat average annual growth of about 4.4% through 2028, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.
Get A Demo
Vertical IQ’s Industry Intelligence Platform
See for yourself why over 60,000 users trust Vertical IQ for their industry research and call preparation needs. Our easy-to-digest industry insights save call preparation time and help differentiate you from the competition.
Build valuable, lasting relationships by having smarter conversations -
check out Vertical IQ today.