The global market research trends organisation said the boost comes after steady growth of 5% in the market research industry during 2006.
The market research industry was worth £1.35bn in 2006, according to a media and marketing forecast by WPP-owned media buying group GroupM published in November 2006.
The most dynamic markets were found in Latin America, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia as clients looked to unlock countries with increasing consumer purchasing power.
However, the report noted that the increased popularity of lower-priced online research was placing a downward pressure on custom research pricing results.
Veronique Jeannin, Esomar's director general, said: "Our initial findings indicate that there is healthy growth in the number of projects commissioned in North America and Western Europe, which is not leading to corresponding increases in sales revenue, mainly due to ongoing adoption of lower priced online research."
Other findings include the rising popularity of cross border research as companies attempt to understand increasingly fragmented consumer sectors.
While merger and acquisition activity slowed down in 2005, growing numbers of private equity companies bought into research firms.
Jeannin said: "It is already well reported that the industry's merger and acquisition activity is continuing, but at a much slower rate than record-breaking 2005.
"The primary reason for acquisitions in 2006 was buying in specialist expertise and products to increase competitive advantage. Followed by what appears to be the final stages of global expansion by the largest companies."