BidSkim
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Service market

Market research contracts

UK public sector · 83 contracts awarded in the 12 months to 6 October 2026

Covering 600+ buyer portals · 5 years of records · Updated 6 October 2026 · How we count

Contracts awarded
83
Last 12 months
Median contract
£65k
Recorded value
Recorded value
£30.8m
80 of 81 main-service contracts have a published value
Buyers
61
Suppliers
79

BidSkim assigns contracts to services from the notice text. How services are assigned

What stands out

  • The five suppliers that won the most market research contracts took 34% of them (28 of 83).
  • The median contract, £65k, is 18% below the median across consulting & accountancy contracts (£80k).
  • Highways England awarded 5% of the market research contracts (4 of 83).

Who buys market research

By contracts awarded, the 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1Highways England4 contracts
  2. 2VisitBritain / VisitEngland (British Tourist Authority)4 contracts
  3. 3Department of Health and Social Care3 contracts
  4. 4Financial Conduct Authority3 contracts
  5. 5Ofcom3 contracts
  6. 6Cabinet Office3 contracts
  7. 7Post Office Limited2 contracts
  8. 8The Open University2 contracts
  9. 9Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB)2 contracts
  10. 10Imperial War Museums2 contracts

Top market research contractors by contracts won

The 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1Ipsos12 contracts
  2. 2Thinks Insight & Strategy5 contracts
  3. 3Yonder4 contracts
  4. 4DJS Research4 contracts
  5. 5Savanta3 contracts
  6. 6Amey2 contracts
  7. 7IFF Research2 contracts
  8. 8Phoenix MRC Ltd2 contracts
  9. 9Morris Hargreaves McIntyre2 contracts
  10. 10Progressive Partnership Ltd.2 contracts

Latest and largest awards

Each links to the official notice.

Latest

Largest

Contracts awarded by quarter

21Q4 2025*27Q1 202616Q2 202619Q3 20260Q4 2026*
* part quarter

Where the contracts were awarded

England 74 · Scotland 5 · Wales 3 · Northern Ireland 1

London23South West8West Midlands6North East4South East4Yorkshire and The Humber3Wales3North West2Scotland2East of England1Northern Ireland1UK-wide or not stated26

What is included

Research into the buyer's audiences, customers, stakeholders and reputation to inform its communications, campaigns, brand, products or engagement: audience research, message and narrative testing, brand and reputation tracking, and stakeholder perception research.

  • Communications and campaign research
  • Message and narrative testing
  • Audience and visitor research
  • Brand perception and reputation audits and benchmarks
  • Stakeholder and supplier perception research
  • Commercial customer and retail market research
  • Personas and sentiment research

What is not included

  • Consumer research to inform policy or regulation (see Social and consumer research)
  • Industry size and trend studies (see Market analysis)
  • Satisfaction trackers of tenants, residents and passengers (see Customer satisfaction survey)
  • Mystery shopping (see Mystery shopping and service quality testing)
  • Digital user research and service design (see it software (it.dev.user research and service design))
  • Buying market reports or data subscriptions (see it software (it.data.market research and intelligence data))
  • Campaign planning, creative and media buying (see Marketing & Creative)

Often bought by the same buyers