Reports & Publications

The Global Prices Study, usually run every two years, provides insights in the price of research around the world and examines differences in pricing that exist between countries, between types of research projects (and methodology) and over time. This iteration of the project has been conducted after a period of three years due to COVID-19.

For both suppliers and buyers of market research, the ESOMAR Global Prices Study is an essential element of any reference library. Its unique content provides an exclusive insight into how research pricing has adapted to the ever-increasing technology imperative AND the unforeseen global pandemic; as a result, it offers unrivalled guidance in the planning and purchasing of primary data collection projects.

The project is based on a set of example projects, with participating agencies submitting bids. This year, quotes were submitted in response to a standardised set of seven projects; six consumer research projects (three quantitative, two qualitative, and one utilising social media research), one B2B project, and a set of commercial tariffs for staff time and a presentation. Although the fieldwork was conducted in various currencies, the study is reported in U.S. Dollars (unless specifically indicated otherwise), using exchange rates from July 2021. The data was collected between May and August 2021.

This year, a new estimate is added based specifically on a research consultancy project. Relevant issues have also been addressed in more depth, through comments from recognised professionals in the industry. The report also includes some additional feedback on the cost of incentives to participants of market research projects and the choice of data collection methodologies, which is a must-read section for both suppliers and buyers alike.

The Global Prices Study 2021 includes an additional tool to the report that allows you to extract the data from the study and do your own comparative price analysis. The Excel tool enables you to:

-        Build custom reports by selecting regions, countries and projects of interest

-        Compare median prices

-        Explore price indices and details of samples and quote ranges