Roy Morgan Research is an Australian market research company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria; it was founded in 1941 by Roy Morgan (1908–1985); its Executive Chairman today is his son, Gary Morgan.
The company has annual turnover of more than A$40 million, and along with the head office in Melbourne, also has offices in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane as well as offices of Roy Morgan International in Auckland, London, New York City, Princeton and Jakarta.
Roy Morgan Research is the only Australian–owned independent polling company that is not owned by a media organisation. The results are published on www.roymorgan.com and by newspapers, magazines, television, radio, the Internet and online subscription services such as Crikey and Henry Thornton. The company is a major provider of advertising and media planning data and undertakes large government, social and corporate research programs.
In 2007 Roy Morgan Research developed the Reactor,[1] colloqially described as the worm,[2] to gauge an audience's reaction to some visual stimuli in real time.
In August 2008, the research group dismissed over 50 casual and temporary staff due to low staffing demand, an event which the Australian Council of Trade Unions has described as an example of the lack of protection in Australia's current industrial relation laws. The organisation defended its decision due to low demand, poor performance of the project the casuals were engaged in and defended its action of e-mailing the dismissals as the company's general practice.[3][4]