Market Research Companies in Australia

Key figures for researchers

Population

27.9 million (31 March 2026)¹

Population by state

NSW 8.67m, Victoria 7.15m, Queensland 5.74m, WA 3.10m, SA 1.92m, Tasmania 0.58m, ACT 0.49m, NT 0.27m (March 2026)¹

Capital cities

18.75 million people, incl. Sydney 5.64m and Melbourne 5.44m (June 2025)²

Where people live

73% in major cities; 1.1% in remote and 0.7% in very remote areas (June 2023)⁶

Median age and households

median age 38; 2.5 people per household; 25.6% are lone-person households (2021 census)³

Languages at home

72.0% use English only; Mandarin 2.7%, Arabic 1.4%, Vietnamese 1.3%, Cantonese 1.2%, Punjabi 0.9% (2021 census)³

First Nations people

812,728 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, 3.2% of the population (2021 census)⁵

Internet users

96.1% of individuals (2024)⁷

Mobile subscriptions

113 per 100 people (2024)⁸

GDP per capita

about US$65,100 (2025)⁹

Research guide

Research landscape

Australia has a mature research industry, concentrated in the largest capital cities: 18.75 million people live in the capitals, including 5.64 million in Sydney and 5.44 million in Melbourne. Full-service agencies work alongside specialist qualitative, social research, B2B and data analytics firms, as well as independent field and panel suppliers.

The industry body is The Research Society, known until 2020 as the Australian Market and Social Research Society (AMSRS). All its members and its Company and Client Partners must comply with its Code of Professional Behaviour, and partner organisations must ensure that the people they employ or engage do the same.

Languages and fieldwork

English is the fieldwork language for almost all studies: 72.0% of people use only English at home. But 5.66 million people used another language at home in 2021, led by Mandarin (2.7% of the population), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%) and Punjabi (0.9%), and 852,706 of them said they do not speak English well or at all. Studies on multicultural audiences often add translated questionnaires or bilingual interviewers.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people number 812,728 (3.2% of the population). 167 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages were used at home in 2021, by 76,978 people. Research with First Nations communities needs specific recruitment, community engagement and cultural care.

A national sample covers six states and two territories, from New South Wales (8.67 million people) to the Northern Territory (0.27 million). Distances are large and 73% of people live in major cities, while only 1.1% live in remote and 0.7% in very remote areas: smaller states and remote areas are often boosted and then weighted back.

Which methods work

Connectivity is very high: 96.1% of individuals use the internet and there are 113 mobile subscriptions per 100 people. Online surveys using access panels are the dominant method for consumer research, and online communities and video interviews are widely used for qualitative work.

Telephone research now relies on mobile numbers: only 12% of adults used a landline phone in 2025, against 97% who went online with a mobile phone. Telephone (CATI) and face-to-face interviews remain used for offline audiences, remote areas, B2B decision makers and social research. In-person focus groups are usually held in Sydney, Melbourne and the other large capital cities.

Timing

Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere: summer runs from December to February and winter from June to August. The Christmas and summer holiday period is the main one to avoid: school summer holidays run from 12 December 2026 to 26 January 2027 in Queensland, from 18 December 2026 to 27 January 2027 in eastern New South Wales and from 21 December 2026 to 27 January 2027 in Victoria. Response rates fall and business respondents are hard to reach.

School holidays differ by state during the year too: in 2026, winter holidays ran from 27 June to 12 July in Queensland and from 6 to 17 July in New South Wales. Check each state’s calendar before fixing fieldwork dates.

There are three time zones: Eastern (UTC+10: New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland), Central (UTC+9.5: South Australia and the Northern Territory) and Western (UTC+8: Western Australia). Daylight saving is observed in the ACT, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria only (in 2026, it ended on 5 April and started again on 4 October), not in Queensland, the Northern Territory or Western Australia. Schedule telephone fieldwork and online sessions by local time.

Data protection

Personal data is governed by the Privacy Act 1988 and its 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), supervised by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). The Act covers Australian Government agencies, organisations with an annual turnover of more than $3 million and some other organisations.

The Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Royal Assent 10 December 2024) strengthened these rules: new civil penalty and infringement notice powers applied from 11 December 2024, a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy was created (in force by 10 June 2025), privacy policies must disclose automated decisions from 10 December 2026, and the OAIC must develop a Children’s Online Privacy Code.

Telephone research: market and social researchers can call numbers on the Do Not Call Register for opinion polling and standard questionnaire-based research, but not if the call has a commercial purpose. Research calls must follow the Telecommunications (Telemarketing and Research Calls) Industry Standard 2017: Monday to Friday 9am to 8.30pm, Saturday and Sunday 9am to 5pm, never on national public holidays.

Working with a local agency

• Share a clear brief: objectives, target, sample size, states and regions, method, languages and deadline.
• Ask whether the agency is a Research Society Company Partner or employs members bound by the Code of Professional Behaviour.
• Ask which panels or fieldwork suppliers will be used, and how fraud, duplicates and inattentive respondents are removed.
• Agree in writing how personal data is handled under the Privacy Act, where it is hosted and how long it is kept.
• Compare several proposals: you can send one request to up to 5 companies from this page.