WPP-owned Kantar held onto the top slot in the consolidated businesses table with a turnover of £446m, despite a fall of 1.77% compared to the previous year. Forrester Research was the fastest growing individual agency with turnover up 130%, to £39m.

The latest MRS League Tables are included in the Research Live Industry Report 2018 (based on 2016 financial data, analysed in 2017 ). The report shows strong, but slowing, growth for research, with the top 100 individual agencies together generating just over £3bn in turnover during 2016 – 2.8% year-on-year growth.  

Overall, 67 of the Top 100 individual agencies recorded growth, with the top 10 accounting for just over half ( 50.8%) of total turnover.

The UK research industry remains larger per head than anywhere else in the world, with £61 spent on research per capita. British businesses spend more per person than the USA (£45 ), Germany (£27 ) and France (£25 ).

Jane Frost, CEO of MRS, said: “This report looks not just to celebrate success, but to show how it has been achieved – the headline growth of the research sector is great news. The majority of companies that responded to the MRS Industry Survey 2017 are optimistic that their revenues will grow year on year, and the story of steadily expanding investment in qualitative research remains a positive one. 

“However, growth for the top 100 individual agencies has slowed, demonstrating that the path to higher turnover is seldom smooth. As we are faced with the uncertainty of Brexit and an increasingly volatile economic landscape there will be some difficult times ahead, but I am confident that as a sector we are well equipped to face these challenges head on.”

To download the report, go to https://www.research-live.com/industry-report