Abstract:

The author recently conducted an online survey to better understand the views of U.S. and U.K. media and marketing research professionals as they relate to the quality and salience of research resources they use in making day-to-day media selection, product usage and targeting decisions. The author expects that the results of both this survey and this paper will help initiate an industry dialogue relative to the perceived equity that various media and marketing research resources possess in today's rather cluttered product marketplace. This paper briefly outlines some of the more difficult challenges that the research industry faces relative to research quality threats, heightened merger and acquisition activity and diminished survey salience. It then assesses survey findings and provides both respondent and IMS forecasts relative to the anticipated shape of the research marketplace as we move toward 2010.