Opinion polls and electoral polls were subject to intense scrutiny and criticism in the wake of the 2016 experience, followed by renewed confidence in the first months of 2017. Polling firms are facing up to the current challenges and reports of the death of quantitative electoral forecasts are "greatly exaggerated".
This paper estimates the size of the market research industry and relates size and growth of the industry to (.DP, C.NP per capita and to the advertising industry with comparisons from developed countries in Europe and elsewhere. Analysis has shown that size of the market research industry relates closely to GDP absolute size in value size while growth relates closely to GDP annual growth. Generally the market research industry grows at three times the GDP growth for that country. The second part of this paper analyses the effect of globalization of the market research industry in Asia. Globalization has been swift in recent years and shows no sign of abating. Within the next few years, global market research companies will account for 85% - 90% of market research business in Asia.