What Geographic and Business Coverage Does Borrell Associates Offer?

Updated

Borrell Associates covers the U.S. local advertising and marketing market, with data configurable down to the county level and across more than 20 million U.S. businesses, 100 business types, and dozens of media and marketing expenditure categories. If your question is whether Borrell's data reaches your specific geography or industry, the answer is likely yes — provided your interest sits within the U.S. and within its tracked business and media categories. Coverage is delivered through two main products: Compass (ad spending tracking and forecasting) and Local Scope (customer profiling based on cellphone activity).

Geographic Coverage

Borrell's market-level data can be configured for any U.S. geography, down to the county level. That means you can request or access data scoped to a single local market rather than only national aggregates.

The company also publishes geography-specific breakdowns in its annual reporting. Its 2026 Annual Report includes two appendices:

  • Growth in business locations for 370 MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas)
  • "Obtainable" digital revenue across 511 U.S. Digital Marketing Regions

This matters if you need to compare a metro against a broader region, or check whether a smaller market is represented in the published data versus only available through a configured data access.

Business Coverage

Compass tracks spending patterns for more than 20 million U.S. businesses. Access can be customized by:

  • Geography — down to the county level
  • Business type — 100 types of businesses
  • Expenditure category — dozens of media and marketing expenditure types

The expenditure categories extend beyond advertising media to other forms of marketing, including event sponsorships, promotional items, and printed materials. So if your interest is in a marketing line item that isn't strictly "advertising," it may still fall inside the tracked categories.

What Each Product Covers

Product What it covers How it's scoped
Compass Tracks and forecasts ad spending for 20M+ U.S. businesses Customizable by geography (to county), 100 business types, dozens of media/marketing expenditure types
Local Scope Demographic profiles of customers of any local business, based on cellphone (mobile) activity Applied to a specific local business or market

How to Decide If the Coverage Fits Your Need

Use these conditions to judge fit:

  • You need U.S. local market data — Borrell's stated scope is U.S. markets; the evidence describes U.S. coverage specifically.
  • You need sub-state granularity — county-level configuration is supported, so metro-only data isn't the ceiling.
  • You need a specific industry — check against the 100 business types; if your category isn't among them, the data may not break out your segment.
  • You need a specific spend category — check against the dozens of media and marketing expenditure types, which include non-media marketing like sponsorships and printed materials.
  • You need customer demographics rather than spend — that's Local Scope's function, not Compass's.

Access and Practical Notes

Some content is gated. The site shows "Add to Cart" and "Report Files" options, and prompts existing subscribers to log in (Compass-Login, Website-Login). Subscription plans are listed as a separate offering. Individual reports, such as the 2026 Annual Report, are available to read directly.

If you want to confirm coverage for your exact county and business type before committing, the most reliable path is to check the Compass product details and the subscription plans page, since configuration options are the mechanism through which geography and business-type coverage is set.