The market for surveys and market research - France

1.2 The global market

The global market for opinion surveys has grown significantly in recent years, driven by a number of factors. Firstly, there is a growing demand for consumer information, from both private individuals and companies. Secondly, the use of these surveys has been systematized as part of various commercial initiatives. Thirdly, the digitalization of this sector has helped to make it increasingly accessible, thanks in particular to the proliferation of online opinion survey solutions.

Global market research revenues World, **** - *****, in billions of dollars Source: ****

The global market is dominated by the United States, the world's largest consumer of surveys and opinion research. As we can see from the graph below, according to figures published by ESOMAR, the US market represented a value of almost $** billion in ****, growing steadily since ****.

Breakdown of the five largest markets World, ****, as % of total Source: ****

Nevertheless, the health crisis led to a significant drop in activity on the US market, which was reflected in lower demand from survey and opinion institutes. Restrictive containment measures, telecommuting and business closures were the main obstacles in ****, and the market consequently contracted by almost *.*%. However, growth is set to resume in ****, driven in particular by the reorganization of companies and their ...

1.3 A slow-growing French market

The French opinion survey market is a young and growing market. In fact, the explosion in opinion polling in France can be explained by the coincidence of several intertwined trends: the constant demand from central authorities (***); the transformation of studies into marketable products.

As can be seen from the graph below, the French market will be worth almost *.* billion euros in ****. The contraction of the market compared with the period from **** to **** can be explained in particular by the adoption of a series of regulatory constraints, notably the RGPD framework on a European scale, which is restricting the activity of players in this market.

Size of the French opinion survey market France, **** - *****, in €Bn Source: ****

While opinion surveys are often carried out in connection with political events and deadlines, much of the demand comes from various private organizations, both companies and trade associations. The latter frequently use this type of product to gain a better understanding of social trends and consumer tendencies.

1.4 The impact of the COVID-19 crisis

The COVID-** crisis had a major impact on the market. Indeed, the main players in this market experienced a net downturn in their business, mainly due to a drop in activity. Demand plummeted as companies shut down their operations, and people were affected by containment measures. As a result, the main players in the market found themselves in a very precarious economic situation.

In June ****, BVA, one of France's leading specialists in opinion polls and surveys, found itself in receivership due to a debt of nearly *** million euros and insufficient revenues. After a legal battle, the company was taken over by its historic management team. [***]

Impact of the health crisis on IPSOS sales France, ****-****, in billions of euros Source: ****

The company was forced to implement a cost-cutting strategy and control its payroll: non-renewal of short contracts, systematic recourse to short-time working, etc.

The global market for opinion surveys is set to rebound strongly in ****. This growth is mainly due to the fact that companies are reorganizing their operations and recovering from the impact of COVID-**, which had previously led to restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, remote working and the closure of business activities that resulted in operational challenges.

2.1 Main customer markets

The demand for opinion polls and surveys comes particularly from companies, which are keen on this kind of product to better understand the expectations of consumers (***): the end consumer is generally the target of the survey, not the institute's client.

Share of sales by customer type France, ****, in Source: ****

In ****, companies spent nearly *.** billion euros on market research and surveys, and thus accounted for over **% of the market. Public authorities and individuals accounted for just *.*% of the sector's sales. Moreover, the demand for opinion polls is not specific to any one industry, but to all B*C and even B*B industries. Nevertheless, the main customer market remains the food market.

As we can see from the following graph, which uses figures published by SYNTEC in ****, this market represents the main outlet with almost **.*% of customer market share. Capital goods and cosmetics are also major customer markets (***)

Main markets for opinion research France, ****, in Source: ****

What's special about these markets is that they are subject to major trends that strongly influence consumption. In the food market, for example, it is vital for companies to quantify and analyze changes in consumer eating habits, such as the move towards organic food, the quest ...

2.2 Increasingly in-house research

According to an ESOMAR study published in **** on users and buyers of market research worldwide, around **% of research projects are carried out in-house. However, the results vary enormously depending on the company; some do not carry out any projects in-house, while others conduct all their projects in-house and therefore do not call on outside firms. Although this study has an international dimension and does not target France in particular, the results are broadly homogeneous across regions and company types, enabling the study to be considered representative of the French market.

The main factors driving the growth of in-house research are budget cuts, lack of resources, changes in consumer behavior and the need to conduct an ever-increasing amount of research.

Evolution of in-house research World, ****, in Source: ****

Companies with fewer than *,*** employees accounted for the lowest proportion of companies conducting in-house research. This trend can be explained by their more limited resources than larger companies. The sectors that internalize their research the most are banking and FMCG, with **% and **% of research carried out in-house respectively. These sectors are data-intensive, which is why the proportion of in-house research is higher in these sectors.

Breakdown of in-house and external studies, by type of study ...

2.3 Demand drivers in the short term

The digitization of industries, which goes hand in hand with the ever-increasing amount of data being used more rapidly , will transform customer needs for years to come. The emphasis on ethics in data collection, for example, will become increasingly important, as will the ability to collect more data more quickly. Paradoxically, cutting-edge technologies (***) seem to be taking a back seat. [***]

Most important characteristics for data collection in the next *-* years World, ****, in Source: ****

According to this graph, the areas that most companies considered to be important were data-related, with a major emphasis on ethics and, in particular, data confidentiality and protection. Next came the management of large data flows.

Far fewer companies were concerned with cutting-edge technologies. Only a third considered chatbots and voice assistants to be important in the coming years. However, these figures do not indicate a lack of interest in these technologies, as between **% and **% of companies consider them important. However, research tends to become simpler with the development of in-house services.

In addition, the main challenges expected by research users and buyers in **** were changing consumer habits, the link between analysis and business results, the need to make better use of data, and the balance between ...

3.1 A doubly segmented market

The major players in the market are the survey institutes.In France, there are a number of major international institutes such as Nielsen and Kantar(***). However, the market is dominated by the internationally-renowned French firms Ipsos, BVA and Médiamétrie.

The first observable market structure is a segmentation between the few large institutes that account for the bulk of the market, and the small, often individual, companies that meet the sector's (***) manpower needs. Low barriers to entry may explain this market fragmentation.

While the first part of the market is concentrated, the second part is not. Indeed, the major polling firms often resort to precarious external labor, as explained in an article bybastamag.net. The democratization of the autoentrepreneur status tends to amplify this trend, even if the use of the Internet requires fewer physical people to survey the population. According to INSEE, in ****, subcontracting in the survey market was valued at ***.* million euros, representing **.*% of companies in the sector. In ****, nearly a third of companies used some form of subcontracting.

We can also see a segmentation between the major generalist research and survey institutes, which operate in numerous sectors (***).

Growth of research and polling firms France, ****, in percent Source: ...

3.2 Concentration and internationalization

The research and survey market is highly concentrated. According to Syntec Conseil, the major institutes (***) accounted for **% of market share by value.

But competition in the market is fierce, with new entrants arriving in step with technological advances. The arrival of the Internet and online surveys has enabled Opinion-Way to make its mark on the market, while increasing digitalization and data science are opening the door to GAFAM and other pure players in the digital sector.

Indeed, GAFAMs represent a powerful substitute for market research institutes, as they collect vast quantities of user data. Indeed, in addition to having information on their subscribers and sometimes even non-subscribers, as the Cambrige Analytica scandal showed, Google or Facebook also collect personal information such as the number of subscribers and the number of users.in addition to information on their subscribers and sometimes even non-subscribers, as the Cambrige Analytica scandal showed, Google or Facebook collect personal information such as health status, private conversations with Google Fit or Hangouts, or religion, work, marital status and political opinions with Facebook.

However, the big firms benefit from their own expertise, notably through their consumer panels and qualitative data, which enable them to obtain information that is impossible ...

3.3 Impact of new technologies

As seen in the previous sections, the market is tending towards a twofold concentration through external acquisitions: in order to reach critical mass for internationalization, and in order to diversify expertise for generalist firms through the acquisition of specialists. But it's interesting to see new investments appearing for players outside the sector. In November ****, Ipsos acquired Synthesio, a specialist in "social media intelligence". In September ****, IFOP created a "customer relations, major surveys and panels" division, and the following year BVA created a "customer experience" division.this can be seen as an example of French survey institutes redirecting their investments towards data science pure-players, opening up a new cycle of market concentration.

As we saw in the previous section, the numerous mergers and acquisitions in the research and polling market are intended to merge the skills of the various institutions in order to gain greater clout against foreign competition. These institutions are now taking a proactive approach by specializing and improving the customer experience. [***]

Traditionally, survey institutes and statistical research firms based most of their analyses on questionnaires and satisfaction studies submitted to a panel, usually by telephone. Consumers' views were then based on their own words. The rapid evolution of consumer ...

4.1 Sales driven by marketing and advertising research

Today's generalist market research institutes offer a wide range of services. Opinion poll specialists generate most of their sales from marketing and advertising research (***).

Breakdown of opinion poll sales, by type of research France, ****, in Source: ****

Opinion polls account for only a small share of research firm sales.

Share of political polls in polling firm sales, in % (***)

Source: ****

However, political polls serve as a showcase, increasing the visibility of these institutes. This discrepancy in sales by type of research is explained in particular by a higher proportion of customers in the industry sector (***). There are also price variations which impact on the sector's sales. Political polls cost between * and **,*** euros, while the minimum price for marketing or advertising research is **,*** euros, and can go up to *.* million euros. In fact, opinion polls are less expensive because they are highly visible, high-profile products that enable polling firms to gain credibility with the general public and companies . [***]

One of the reasons for this price difference is the type of method used to carry out the surveys. For political surveys, the questions are omnibus, i.e. they are part of a list of questions on various subjects put to the same citizen-consumer. A longer, ...

4.2 Offer typology

The range of opinion polls and surveys on offer is extremely rich, and is often tailor-made to meet the specific needs of each client. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify a few broad categories of surveys and opinion polls

4.3 Trends expected from institutes

The ESOMAR study also indicates buyers' perceptions of research and survey institutes.

Sought-after performance of research and polling companies World, ****, in Source: ****

Based on the above responses, institutes appear to deliver quality research work, with **% of respondents having a favorable opinion on this characteristic. When it comes to the speed of external research institutions, one in two buyers said they were satisfied, but much progress has been made on this front, with a high rate of improvement.

The main issues and challenges facing external partners over the next few years are the quality of presentations, the ability to work and the resulting recommendations to convince stakeholders.

Ranking of prioritized themes in **** France, ****, in Source: ****

According to the graph above, the customer experience ranks very high in the priorities of Research departments, confirming the trends seen in sections *.* and *.*. The customer experience is therefore one of the main concerns of companies, who are also ready to increase their research efforts in this area.

Market knowledge seems to be the priority in ****, with an emphasis on target knowledge and market intelligence. Companies seem to prefer identifying trends and getting to know the market and its expectations better, rather than testing new offerings.

4.4 Increasingly connected studies

Studies can be carried out either quantitatively or qualitatively. These two methods complement each other to obtain both representative and detailed responses. [***]

Quantitative data provides the figures that validate the general points of a study by collecting raw, concrete data, mainly in numerical form. Qualitative data, on the other hand, provides the detail and context to understand the full implications, and relies on impressions, opinions and views to gather information designed to describe a subject rather than measure it.

The health crisis has prompted companies to turn online, and this trend looks set to continue in ****.

Breakdown of types of qualitative research planned France, ****, in Source: ****

Online research has taken on great importance since the health crisis, and companies had to turn to these practices to the detriment of more "traditional" approaches in view of the context. Online focus groups and remote one-to-one interviews account for **% and **% of usage respectively, putting them on a par with physical methods.

Breakdown of types of quantitative research planned France, ****, in Source: ****

While **% of surveyed research managers had planned to carry out quantitative investigations on online panels before the health crisis, **% are now planning to do so for ****. On the other hand, occasional use is ...

5.1 Regulations

Aarticlefrom ENS Lyon looks back at the first law governing polling: the law of July **, ****. Its aim was to regulate the publication of opinion polls by the media, and to set up a polling commission charged with guaranteeing the free determination of the electorate. But this commission has very limited powers. Above all, the law prohibits the publication of any opinion polls in the week leading up to and on polling day. This law was amended in ****, reducing the reserve period to * days before the poll, which is very flexible (***).

Thewebsiteof the polling commission details the law of April **, ****, which brings real changes: a definition of polling is formulated, including any welding relating to the electoral debate. It also specifies the role of the commission des sondages.

There's also the **** General Data Protection Regulation (***), which, according tothe question, introduces a founding principle of responsibility in the event of personal data being included in the survey. The polling company must be able to show that all measures have been taken to ensure the protection of the respondent's data.

6.1 Segmentation

• WPP
• IQVIA
• Ipsos
• BVA Group
• Médiametrie
• IFOP
• CSA
• Opinion way
• Odoxa
• Survey Monkey
• Yoope
• Kantar France
• Mintel Group
• Plimsoll Publishing
• YOUGOV
• Statista
• Gerson Lehrman Group GLG
• Factiva (Dow Jones) France
• Businesscoot
• Enerdata
• Emprixia
• Les Echos Études
• Xerfi Groupe
• Asteres
• Nielsen
• DMR (Launchmetrics Group)
• Augure Launchmetrics
• Altares Dun & Bradstreet
• MIS Groupe Creatests
• Junior Essec Conseil
• Business France