WillItSurvive
Financial data and information services · subsidiary of Focus Media Holding Ltd. (ownership status as of 2007; current parent unverified as of 2026) · China

iResearch

iresearch.com.cn ↗

Shanghai firm selling internet and digital market research reports and data in China.

Little protection left
Assessed 26 July 2026 · Evidence as of 26 July 2026
Not much stands between this business and its pressures.
On the recordSince 26 July 2026 · Checkable from unscheduled, watch through 2027 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Any resolution of Focus Media's 2021 plan to exit iResearch ownership
The call

iResearch keeps publishing reports on AI markets while AI tools themselves take over the job of summarizing those same markets for free.

iResearch is a company that gathers statistics and writes trend reports that it sells to businesses in China. The problem is that AI services like ChatGPT, Doubao, and DeepSeek can now write similar reports instantly and for free or very cheap, and millions of people in China already use these AI tools instead. iResearch has no special data that only it can access, no customer contracts that lock people in, and its ownership has been unclear for years; the key thing to watch is whether iResearch can build a real AI product (not just AI-written reports) before competitors like QuestMobile take over the market-research business entirely.

Why
01
AI pressure: Chinese AI answer engines (Doubao, Qwen, DeepSeek). These apps now summarize market stats and trends instantly for hundreds of millions of users, cutting the need to buy iResearch reports. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: QuestMobile. QuestMobile is expanding fast into AI app usage data, pushing to become the default source China's AI market data claims cite. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. A research brand dating to 2002 and a library of named industry reports still cited by media like 36Kr.
What would change this call
Any confirmed sale, buyout, or restructuring announcement resolving the ownership overhang since 2021. Shows whether the exit uncertainty weighing on iResearch is finally settled or keeps dragging.
Whether iResearch ships an API-fed proprietary data product (e.g. iDataCenter) versus only PDF-style reports. Shows if iResearch can build a real data moat or stays a replaceable narrative vendor.
Whether QuestMobile announces named enterprise contracts or partnerships in AI-market data through 2026. Shows QuestMobile consolidating the niche iResearch is trying to pivot into.
Key numbers
  • Founded 2002 as China's first internet market research firm (2013-04-22)
  • Owner reportedly weighing exit since May 2021, still unresolved (2021-05-24)
  • Last recorded funding round: July 2016, none since (2016-07-23)
Named risks
  • Unresolved ownership overhang since owner reportedly weighed exit in 2021. Severity: high
  • Core report-and-stats product directly replicable by generative AI and AI answer engines. Severity: high
  • No confirmed revenue, funding, or client disclosures since 2016. Severity: medium
  • QuestMobile and peers outpacing iResearch in the fast-growing AI-market-data niche. Severity: medium
Rivals, as read in July 2026
RivalDirectionEvidence
QuestMobilelosing toQuestMobile's AI-app usage reports widely cited amid 440-499M MAU growth as of 2026-07-15
AnalysyscontestingPitchBook names Analysys (易观) as a direct China internet-research competitor to iResearch
Frost & Sullivan / LeadLeocontestingCo-publish China large-model evaluation reports as of 2026-06-30, overlapping iResearch's AI-market coverage
Questions people ask
Is iResearch profitable in 2026?
Unknown. PitchBook lists iResearch's current revenue as blank/unspecified, and no third-party financial figures have surfaced. Its last confirmed funding activity was a 2016-07-23 later-stage VC round with no valuation disclosed, and no revenue growth or client counts have been reported through 2026.
Who owns iResearch now?
Unclear. iResearch became a Focus Media Holding subsidiary on 2007-09-28, but a Bloomberg report dated 2021-05-24 said the owner was 'weighing an exit.' No sale, buyout, or restructuring has been confirmed since, leaving current ownership unresolved as of mid-2026.
Could AI replace iResearch's reports?
Very plausibly. iResearch's core product is aggregated statistics plus trend narratives, the same content generative AI assembles cheaply. Chinese AI answer engines like Doubao, Qwen, and DeepSeek reached roughly 440-499 million monthly users by mid-2026 (QuestMobile, vendor-claimed), pressuring traditional report distribution.
Is QuestMobile a bigger threat to iResearch than Analysys?
Yes, in the AI-data niche. QuestMobile publishes widely-cited AI-app usage reports (e.g. its 2026-07-15 half-year AI application report) and counts major tech firms as data users per its own claims, while Analysys, per PitchBook, remains a comparable legacy research peer rather than an AI-data leader.
Does iResearch have its own AI product?
No confirmed AI-native product has been found as of 2026-07-15. iResearch's recent output, including a June 2026 automotive AI-influence index report and a July 2026 finance-tax intelligence report, analyzes AI adoption in other industries rather than shipping an AI tool of its own.
When was iResearch founded and by whom?
iResearch Consulting Group was founded in 2002 by Henry Yang and describes itself as the first professional market-research company in China focused on internet media, headquartered in Shanghai with branches in Beijing and Guangzhou.
Timeline
  • 2026-07-15Published China Small and Micro Enterprises finance-tax intelligence report on generative-AI transformation
  • 2026-06-14Published Automotive Industry AI Information Source Influence Index Report
  • 2026-06-02Published South Korea cross-border e-commerce market opportunities white paper
  • 2025-07-02Published 2025 China AI Glasses Industry Report
  • 2021-05-24Bloomberg reports iResearch's owner is weighing an exit; unresolved as of 2026
  • 2016-07-23Last confirmed later-stage VC round (Yonghong Tech), no valuation disclosed
  • 2007-09-28iResearch becomes a subsidiary of Focus Media Holding Ltd
  • 2002iResearch founded by Henry Yang in Shanghai
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Little protection left. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
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