Competitor Assessment: Market Research, Reports & Services Companies – An Industry Vertical Look

In the Market Research, Reports & Services (MRRS) sector of the information industry, players in the non-IT research segment weathered the business downturn over the last few years much better than some of the other sectors in the information industry, with higher growth rates than many. However, the MRRS-IT Research segment was harder hit than most of the other segments, as it had the largest declining market. The MRRS sector is an exciting place to be these days, with the full impact of the Web showing up across all of the industries that MRRS serves. Not only is the Web impacting business, but competitors coming in from outside the sector have been picking up steam. The business-to-business (B2B) publishers are nipping at the MRRS players' heels with a drive toward 'databases'; lead-generation companies are using market research as a way to garner eyeballs and sell leads; and new sources of information on consumer searching and buying habits are coming out of Internet venues rather than traditional market research firms. This Briefing takes a top-level look at the dynamics that are shaping up to make MRRS one of the hotter spots to watch. It analyzes drivers and trends, and includes industry-by-industry data on market research spending as well as a table of top players, revenues, and company attributes. For commercial content vendors, this is a guide to the changes occurring in a dynamic part of our industry. For content managers, the message is 'buyer beware'; offerings are confusing and quality varies widely among vendors.