Omnibus Services

Share the cost of research-get affordable, credible information fast through ICR's Omnibus Surveys

At ICR, we conduct national telephone research in an omnibus study format. This allows our research partners to:
  • Pool questions with non-conflicting questions from other companies to form one survey.
  • Share the costs of the sampling, screening of the respondents and weighting of the population.
  • Receive the data for your own exclusive questions plus the full battery of demographic items.


You can see the results of our clients' research published regularly in the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, on ABC News.com, and in other popular and prestigious journals, newspapers, magazines and websites.

We conduct:
  • More than 150,000 omnibus interviews annually with adults
  • 6,000 surveys annually with teenagers
  • 12,000 interviews annually with Hispanics
  • 6,000 interviews with small business owners and operators


Our partners use these programs to obtain:
  • Data for internal meetings and sales presentations,
  • Cost effective tracking metrics on ad or brand recall, and
  • Before-and-after metrics on events or ad flights, among other uses.


We offer four telephone omnibus services that target specific market segments:
  • ICR EXCEL-a national twice-weekly telephone survey of 1,000 adults, half male and half female
  • ICR TeenEXCEL-500 interviews per month among a nationally representative sample of teens ages 12 to 17
  • ICR HispanicEXCEL-1,000 telephone interviews conducted monthly among a nationally representative sample of Hispanics, ages 18 and older
  • ICR SmallBizEXCEL-an independent study including 500 completed interviews with a nationally representative sample of small businesses


ICR EXCEL- Adult Telephone Omnibus

ICR EXCEL is a national survey of consumers age 18 and over. It is conducted by telephone in waves of 1,000 completed interviews. At ICR, we typically offer two waves of EXCEL each week during the year.

ICR EXCELgives you:
  • True independent samples in each wave
  • Better representation and greater accuracy than Web surveys
  • Topline data the day after interviewing stops and tabulations within two days
  • Broad subject matter application
  • Research project versatility-from one-time studies to long-term tracking
  • Quality data-generated using computer-based interviewing, sample generation and control


The omnibus design includes:
  • A minimum of 1,000 interviews, half male and half female
  • A fully replicated, stratified, single-stage, random-digit-dialing sample of households
  • Random selection of specific individual respondents within a household


Respondent demographic and classification data includes:
  • Respondent and household characteristics including:


    • Age
    • Income
    • Sex
    • Own or rent home
    • Level of education
    • Household size and composition
    • Employment status
    • Number of telephone numbers
    • Race
    • Marital status
    • Political affiliation
  • Geographic information including:
    • Census region and division
    • State and county code
    • MSA/PMSA
    • ADI
    • County size designation
    • Metropolitan status code


We weight and balance data:
  • For the disproportionate probabilities of household selection due to the number of separate telephone lines and the probability associated with random selection of an individual household member
  • According to most recent Census estimates for key demographics such as age, sex, region and education
TEENEXCEL - Teen Telephone Omnibus

This is our national omnibus study of 12-to-17 year-olds. These teens represent 25 percent of the U.S. population, spend over $100 billion a year, and influence parental spending. Our TeenEXCEL program provides reliable insight into the opinions and attitudes of this important group why complying with all rules concerning privacy.

Download our latest Report on Teen Spending Patterns.

The ICR TeenEXCEL allows our partners to:
  • Reach teens quickly at a fraction of the cost of a custom survey
  • Conduct tracking studies
  • Test new product concepts
  • Develop databases or specific samples
  • Conduct awareness, trial and usage studies


There is one monthly wave of TeenEXCELwhich includes:
  • 500 completed interviews
  • A nationally representative sample of teenagers ages 12 to 17
  • An even division of sample between 12 to 14 year olds and 15 and 17 year olds and males and females
  • A balancing program to ensure that, when tabulated, the sample is reflective of the national teenage population


Respondent and household demographic questions include:
  • Gender
  • Ages
  • Region
  • Disposable income
  • Employment and source of income
  • Household income (as reported by the head of household)
  • Two optional banner points at no charge


ICR HispanicEXCEL - Hispanic Omnibus

There are 38.8 million Hispanics in the United States, and this number is growing rapidly. English-based surveys miss the large proportion of this group who are not fluent in English. Surname-based surveys also miss a large proportion of this group. At ICR, our method gives every Hispanic household in the United States a chance to be interviewed-the most accurate representation of the Hispanics community.

Download our latest Report on Hispanic Spending regarding in-home entertainment.

Our partners use HispanicEXCEL to:
  • Reach a nationally projectable sample of Spanish and English-speaking Hispanics,
  • Test new product concepts, assess product or brand awareness and use or gage attitudes on key issues,
  • Achieve quick access to information, and
  • Obtain essential information for a fraction of the cost of custom research.
  • At ICR, we can also merge ICR HispanicEXCEL with ICR EXCEL to obtain better representation of the entire US population.


There is one monthly wave of this Telephone omnibus which includes:
  • 1,000 interviews conducted in just two weeks of Hispanics age 18 and older
  • A nationally representative sampling of Hispanics across ethnic origins
  • A national disproportionate stratified sampling design using an optimal allocation method of selection
  • An incidence over double the national rate of reaching the right sampling


Respondent and household information that we collect include:
  • Ability to speak English and Spanish (with over half the interviews conducted in Spanish)
  • Acculturation
  • Gender
  • Age
  • Education
  • Region


We weight and balance data:
  • For the disproportionate probabilities of household selection due to the number of separate telephone lines and the probability associated with random selection of an individual household member
  • According to most recent Census estimates for key demographics such as age, sex, region and education
ICR SMALLBIZEXCEL - Small Business Omnibus

Reach small businesses through ICR SmallBizEXCEL.

There are nearly 25 million small businesses in the U.S.-accounting for almost half of the U.S. gross domestic product. Our SmallBizEXCEL provides cost effective access to owners and managers of these firms.

Our partners use SmallBizEXCELto:
  • Obtain quick and reliable data on this market,
  • Obtain information on topical or time-sensitive issues,
  • Test advertising awareness, obtain usage data on products or services, assess interest in new product concepts or understand purchase plans and channels,
  • Achieve quick access to information, and
  • Obtain essential information for a fraction of the cost of custom research.


Each wave consists of:
  • 500 interviews over a 10-day field period, and
  • A nationally representative, stratified sample with quotas by company size.


Business firmographic information includes:
  • Title of respondent
  • Industry/SIC code
  • Number of employees-less than 10, 10 to 19, 20 to 49 or 50 to 99
  • Annual sales
  • Number of business locations
  • Whether business is involved in e-commerce
  • Region of the country