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What are your competitors paying attention to that you aren't?
It's a question every business leader should be asking. And increasingly, the answer may have less to do with what's happening inside your industry and more to do with the forces reshaping the market around it.
From AI breakthroughs and shifting consumer expectations to geopolitical uncertainty and viral cultural moments, businesses have more to keep track of than ever. But with so many competing priorities, where are organizations actually focusing their research?
Quid's latest State of Consumer & Market Intelligence Report offers a revealing look at that question. Drawing on nearly 50,000 research activities across 13 industries, the Q4 2026 edition examines how research priorities have changed year over year, which subjects are gaining attention, and what those shifts could mean for business decisions. And one finding stands out: Competitive intelligence is moving to the front of the research agenda.
For years, understanding consumers has been a central focus of market research. What do people want? How are their preferences changing? Which trends are gaining momentum? Those questions still matter. But the latest Quid data suggests businesses are widening their perspective.
Competitive Intelligence has overtaken Consumer Trend Tracking as the leading inferred research use case. Market Landscape Analysis has also climbed significantly, moving from tenth to third. It's a meaningful shift. Organizations aren't just studying customer behavior. They're paying closer attention to competitor moves, emerging market opportunities, and the external forces that could affect their position.
A competitor's product announcement, a regulatory development, or a change in consumer confidence can quickly alter a company's next move. Understanding the wider market gives leaders more context to make decisions about where to invest, how to compete, and which opportunities deserve attention.
But how consistently is that shift playing out across individual industries? The answer is more complicated than the overall rankings suggest. The full report compares the leading research use cases across 13 industries, including which priorities gained or lost ground over the past year.
See Where Your Industry's Research Priorities Rank
One unfavorable headline, a viral customer complaint, or a controversial executive statement can change the conversation around a brand almost overnight. And when public perception changes, the consequences can extend far beyond communications. Customer loyalty, purchasing decisions, partnerships, and even long-term growth can all be affected by how an organization is perceived.
That helps explain why Brand & PR remains one of the most prominent research topics in Quid's latest analysis. Across industries, organizations continue to investigate brand sentiment, reputation risks, and the conversations shaping public opinion. But reputation research isn't confined to traditional brand monitoring.
For some industries, questions about public trust increasingly overlap with product innovation, technology adoption, and changing customer expectations. For others, understanding the broader social and cultural environment is becoming an important part of maintaining brand relevance. The opportunity is to connect what people are saying with what those conversations mean for the business.
Which industries are putting the greatest emphasis on reputation, and where is that emphasis growing fastest? The report breaks down those differences, offering a clearer picture of how organizations are approaching brand health and risk.
Here's one of the more interesting findings in the report: 47% of classified research activity falls outside the three leading topic categories. In other words, nearly half of the observed research activity spans a much wider range of subjects.
Consider how a major sporting event can create unexpected opportunities for technology companies, retailers, and consumer brands. Or how developments in healthcare can change expectations around products and services far removed from the pharmaceutical industry. The factors shaping a business rarely fit neatly into one category, and Quid's research reflects that reality.
Across 17 topic categories, the report reveals how organizations are investigating everything from financial developments and AI to entertainment, sports, and broader societal issues. Some of these connections are intuitive. Others are considerably more surprising.
The challenge for business leaders is knowing which emerging conversations are relevant to their organization and which are simply generating noise. Identifying a trend is only useful when you understand how it could influence customers, competitors, or future business opportunities.
A research priority that dominates one sector might barely register in another. That's why looking exclusively at overall industry averages can leave important questions unanswered.
Quid's Q4 2026 report includes individual research breakdowns for 13 industries:
Each industry section examines the leading research topics, their share of activity, and how those priorities have changed year over year. The report also identifies leading inferred research use cases and translates the findings into practical considerations for business leaders.
The result is a benchmark that can help organizations ask better questions about their own intelligence strategies. Are you spending time on the same issues as others in your industry? Are certain subjects gaining attention while your team remains focused elsewhere? And could an emerging priority in an adjacent sector signal an opportunity worth investigating?
Those are the questions the full report is designed to help answer.
The value of market intelligence ultimately comes down to what organizations do with it. Knowing that a subject is gaining attention provides a starting point. Understanding why that subject matters, how it connects to your business, and what decisions it should inform is where intelligence becomes valuable.
That requires connecting several perspectives:
Together, these perspectives help leaders evaluate opportunities, recognize risks, and prioritize their next moves with greater confidence.
The Q4 2026 State of Consumer & Market Intelligence Report provides a useful benchmark for understanding how organizations are approaching those questions today. And the findings suggest that the most effective research agendas may be the ones willing to look beyond their usual boundaries.
Your competitors are asking questions, exploring new markets, and paying attention to developments that could shape their next decisions. How does your research agenda compare?
Quid's 2026 Q4 State of Consumer & Market Intelligence Report provides an inside look at the priorities shaping observed research activity across 13 industries. Explore the topics gaining momentum, the use cases moving up the rankings, and the year-over-year changes that could help inform your next business decision.
Nearly 50,000 research activities. 13 industries. 17 research categories. One report to help you see where attention is shifting.
Consumer and market intelligence is the process of analyzing consumer behavior, competitor activity, industry developments, and broader market trends to support business decisions. It helps organizations understand customer needs, identify opportunities, evaluate risks, and respond to changes in their market.
According to Quid's Q4 2026 State of Consumer & Market Intelligence Report, notable shifts include growing attention to competitive intelligence, continued emphasis on brand reputation, and broader research into subjects outside organizations' core industries. The report compares research activity from Q3 2026 with Q3 2025 to identify these changes.
Consumer intelligence focuses on understanding customer behavior, preferences, attitudes, and emerging needs. Competitive intelligence examines competitors, market positioning, industry developments, and potential threats or opportunities. Together, they help businesses understand both customer demand and the competitive environment.
Research priorities vary considerably by industry. Some sectors place greater emphasis on reputation and customer trust, while others focus more heavily on innovation, competitive activity, or cultural trends. Quid's latest report compares the leading research topics and inferred use cases across 13 industries to highlight these differences.
Competitive intelligence helps organizations understand changes in their competitive environment, evaluate market opportunities, and make more informed strategic decisions. Tracking competitor activity alongside consumer and market developments can help businesses identify risks and opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Quid analyzes observed customer research activity across its products, including Quid Monitor, Quid Discover, Quid Terminal, Ask Q, and Q Agents. The Q4 2026 report examines nearly 50,000 research activities across the two comparison periods, classifies activity into 17 topic categories, and analyzes year-over-year changes. Inferred use cases are derived from weighted topic distributions. The findings reflect observed Quid customer activity and may not represent the broader market.
You can download Quid's free 2026 Q4 State of Consumer & Market Intelligence Report to explore research trends, industry-specific benchmarks, year-over-year comparisons, and insights to inform your organization's intelligence priorities.