Mumbai: Global trade association ESOMAR has released its annual ranking of the Global Top 50 Insights Companies for 2022. The global top-50 companies grew by a combined 14 per cent in 2021, as per the report, after the sluggish growth registered in 2020. The strong performance of these companies will likely see their combined market share increase slightly during 2021 as they surpass global rates of growth, says the latest edition of this flagship report.
In fact, ESOMAR’s Global Market Research 2021 report revealed the industry barely holding its ground in 2020 with a global net growth of 0.3 per cent, or a linear one of 1.7 per cent, and an estimated turnover of almost $90 billion. It is also clear from the study that the industry has bounced back from the stifling uncertainty it experienced during 2020.
This year's list includes companies from MarTech, consultancies, self-service platforms, and enterprise feedback management firms. Companies that made it to the top 50 ranking include big software names like Adobe, Accenture, and Salesforce, along with KPMG, McKinsey, E&Y, and Deloitte, and insight sector players, including BCG, Gartner, Ipsos, Kantar, Nielsen, Dynata, Qualtrics, and health data giant IQVIA, which headed the list.
Below are some of the trends and insights that emerged through 2021 for some of the top global companies:
Growth of technology
As technological development seeps through all levels of society and means of production, it also profoundly changes the tools at the professionals’ disposal. Nonetheless, an unforeseen externality pushed the insights industry to rely more than ever on remote and passive methods of research. The necessity many companies had of treading unexplored technological paths to deliver insights has proved promising for the industry and its future by attracting unprecedented levels of investment in 2021.
As presented in the 2021 edition of the Global Market Research report, the market share of technology-enabled methods of research grew by up to 4 percentage points over the course of 2020, to the detriment of established ones.
The swift adoption of technological tools caused the industry to transition to alternative business models. While the product was initially driven by action - research, data collection, project scope - it has now transitioned to a specific tool that allows the emergence (or discovery!) of insights - SaaS - or the ability to crunch large datasets - DaaS.
Industrial segments like Digital Data Analytics or Social Listening and Communities (MarTech) grew at stupendous levels during 2021 and expanded by almost one-fourth over that year. MarTech growth, even during the pandemic, was not only positive but higher than other industry segments.
Consolidation of players
Nearly 20 of the Top-50 companies in the ranking, which is almost 50 per cent of the total turnover reported by the entire ranking, saw a degree of mergers and acquisitions (M & A) involvement in 2021. The number of M&A in the industry has been fuelled by easy access to capital and the need to expand the portfolio of products and services. One of the biggest arenas for consolidation was found in the MarTech sector, where a number of the largest players declared notable growth originating from mergers and acquisitions. Up to 40 per cent of the turnover from the largest companies related to the MarTech sector was related to companies that had either been acquired or had been acquired.
Investment in the insights industry
Easy access to financial resources, high levels of industry consolidation, and sustained levels of capital return have turned the insights industry into an attractive investment opportunity. As per the study, 2021 saw investors piqued by the positive results and swift growth of remote and passive research imposed by the pandemic, facilitated in part by technology and platforms.
In just the span of one year, investment in platforms went from representing 20 per cent of total investment in 2020 to growing to a remarkable share of 48 per cent in 2021.
Top-50 Global Insights Companies are a mix of all three realms: 37 per cent of the turnover is taken by 14 companies related to the established industry, 30 per cent is taken by 17 tech-enabled companies, and 33 per cent by reporting companies.
Fastest growing firms
Lightspeed, with an increase of 227 per cent in its turnover, is in first place, while another MarTech company, Hubspot, which surpassed a one-billion-dollar turnover in 2021, came in second place with a growth of 47 per cent. Qualtrics, which operates as a self-service platform, is expected to grow by 41 per cent by 2021. Sitecore increased by 30 per cent following a significant round of funding in excess of one billion dollars.
According to the study, 28 companies out of 50, or more than half of all companies, reported double-digit interannual growth. 15 of these companies grew between 10 per cent and 20 per cent (mostly consulting and industry research firms), seven grew between 20 per cent and 30 per cent (mostly digital data analytics companies), three grew between 30 per cent and 40 per cent, and three grew between 40 per cent and 50 per cent, even as Lightspeed more than tripled in turnover (227 per cent).
Remarkably, only three of the Global Top-50 Insights Companies declared negative growth in the past year: INTAGE with -0.5 per cent, McKinsey & Co. with an estimated -2.2 per cent, and PwC with -4.8 per cent.
The report notes the impressive expansion of the sector and the pervasiveness of M&A activity—as many as twenty of the top 50, accounting for almost half the total turnover, are significantly affected in their revenue and rankings by takeovers and mergers taking place in 2021.
