Market Research Companies in Brazil

Key figures for researchers

Population

203.1 million (2022 census)¹

Population by region

Southeast 84.8m, Northeast 54.7m, South 29.9m, North 17.4m, Centre-West 16.3m (2022 census)²

Median age

35 years; 10.9% aged 65 and over (2022 census)¹

São Paulo (city)

11.45 million people (2022 census)³

Internet users

90.5% of people aged 10+ (2025)⁵

Mobile phone for personal use

89.8% of people aged 10+ (2025)⁵

Internet users aged 60+

74.5% (2025)⁵

Mobile subscriptions

102 per 100 people (2024)⁶

GDP per capita

about US$10,700 (2025)⁷

Critério Brasil classes (9 metropolitan regions)

A+B1 13%, B2 19%, C 52%, D-E 17% (2026)⁸

Research guide

Research landscape

São Paulo is the country’s main business hub: the city has 11.45 million inhabitants and São Paulo state 44.4 million (2022 census). Full-service agencies work alongside specialist qualitative, B2B, healthcare and data analytics firms, as well as field, recruitment and panel suppliers.

The industry body is ABEP (Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Pesquisa). Its self-regulation code refers to the ICC/ESOMAR Code and states that the client has no right to know respondents’ names or addresses without their prior consent. ABEP also maintains the Critério Brasil, the socio-economic classification (classes A, B1, B2, C1, C2, D-E) used in most Brazilian quotas.

Languages and fieldwork

Portuguese is the fieldwork language for almost all studies, and questionnaires written in European Portuguese or Spanish should be adapted to Brazilian Portuguese. English is rarely suitable for consumer research, and even B2B interviews are usually conducted in Portuguese.

A national sample covers five regions with very different weights: the Southeast (84.8 million people) and the Northeast (54.7 million) together hold most of the population, ahead of the South (29.9 million), the North (17.4 million) and the Centre-West (16.3 million). The North is the youngest region (median age 29) and the Southeast the oldest (37). Quotas usually combine region, age, gender and Critério Brasil class, which is calculated from household items, the education of the head of household and access to piped water and paved streets. In the nine metropolitan regions tracked by ABEP, classes A and B1 make up 13% of the population, B2 19%, C 52% and D-E 17% (2026).

Which methods work

Connectivity is high: 90.5% of people aged 10 and over used the internet in 2025, and 98.7% of internet users went online with a mobile phone. Online surveys using access panels, mobile-first questionnaires and online qualitative methods are widely used for consumer research. Messaging is the most common online activity: 90.2% of internet users send or receive text, voice or image messages through apps other than email.

Coverage is uneven: internet use reaches 93.6% in the Centre-West but 88.5% in the Northeast, and 83.0% in rural areas against 91.5% in urban areas; 74.5% of people aged 60 and over are online. Telephone (CATI) and face-to-face interviews remain used for lower-income, rural and older audiences. For in-person groups, ABEP’s recruitment rules require participants to show an original photo ID and exclude people working in the research industry.

Timing

Carnival falls in February or March (16–17 February in 2026, followed by Ash Wednesday): activity slows across the country, so avoid fieldwork that week. Christmas and New Year and the January summer holidays are also difficult: in São Paulo, the 2026 municipal school year runs from 4 February to 22 December.

Plan around national holidays (for example Good Friday, Tiradentes on 21 April, Independence Day on 7 September and 12 October) and the July school holidays: in São Paulo, the 2026 mid-year school recess ran from 6 to 17 July. School calendars are set locally, so check the regions in your sample.

Data protection

Personal data is governed by the LGPD (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais, Law 13,709 of 14 August 2018). It requires a legal basis such as consent or legitimate interest, the appointment of a data protection officer (“encarregado”), and specific grounds for international transfers. The basis for studies by a “research body” covers only public bodies and non-profit entities. Fines can reach 2% of revenue in Brazil, capped at R$50 million per infraction.

The law is enforced by the ANPD, which Law 15,352 (published 25 February 2026) turned into the National Data Protection Agency. Since August 2024, ANPD rules set standard contractual clauses for international transfers, and in January 2026 the EU and Brazil adopted mutual adequacy decisions, so data can flow between the EU and Brazil without extra safeguards. Ask your agency which legal basis it uses, where the data is hosted and how identifiable data, recordings or video will be shared with you.

Working with a local agency

• Share a clear brief: objectives, target, sample size, regions and cities, Critério Brasil classes, method, languages and deadline.
• Ask whether the agency is an ABEP member and follows its self-regulation code and recruitment rules.
• Ask which panels or fieldwork suppliers will be used, how regions outside the Southeast are covered, and how fraud and duplicates are removed.
• Agree in writing who is controller and who is operator (processor) of the personal data under the LGPD, and the retention period.
• Compare several proposals: you can send one request to up to 5 companies from this page.