The biggest challenge facing the printing industry has become what almost seems like a "war on print" by those who produce and disseminate content. The advertising and marketing industry enthuses about online and even newer media 24/7-and has even taken to referring to print as "offline media." What the industry needs is not only to fight back and remind people of the effectiveness of print, but also to come to the same conclusion as its most successful customers: that print walks hand-in-hand with other media.
It’s no secret that many firms in the industry have been struggling, and demographic data show a great deal of turmoil that continues relatively unabated. Yet, there remain very successful businesses in the industry. Cultural changes in the way people access media are having profound effects on the demand for print, particularly among advertisers, marketers, and publishers-all of whom are, not coincidentally, printers’ biggest customers. How has the explosion of new media affected the print markets? What can the industry do to effective cope with these trends? And what will 2006 bring?
This special report provides complete snapshots of the TrendWatch Graphic Arts commercial printing and prepress markets and details how they fared in 2005. How was business for these companies? What did they identify as their biggest challenges? What did they identify as their biggest opportunities? And what hardware and software do they plan to buy to pursue those opportunities and/or respond to those challenges?
The TWGA Printing Forecast 2006 also presents the latest data on digital printing; personalized, customized, variable-data, and other targeted printing applications; "Web-to-print" applications and use; wide-format printing; and interest in and implementation of production workflow solutions.
The report also looks at the current state of the creative markets who comprise printers’ most important clients-design and production firms and publishers. How are media and other trends in these markets impacting not only the demand for print, but also these firms’ relationships with their printers?
Highlights
Despite gloomy economic reports, recent TWGA Printing surveys have found that business conditions for printing firms remained healthy, if not spectacular, in 2005. TWGA and the industry expect business to continue to be generally stable through 2006.
In Spring 2005, 66% of printers cited "competition" as a major business challenge, a reaction to what is thought to be too little work flowing into too many shops.
In Spring 2005, 29% of printers cited "making our Web site more interactive" as a significant business opportunity, a reflection of the culture-wide transition to e-commerce in general as well as a growing trend toward "Web-to-print" applications in particular.
Researcher’s Comment
"2005 has seen marketers and advertisers steadily distancing themselves from print, and yet, given the effectiveness of print, they do so at their peril. Regardless, "cursing the darkness" won’t help; printers need to develop a cogent strategy for responding to this trend. What the industry needs is an emphasis on seeking out new business models, niches, and applications for print. This is 180 degrees from how the industry tends to operate; but the need to do so has never been greater and will only become more profound in the year(s) ahead."
According to the Report
In Spring 2005, 42% of print and prepress firms expected business in the next 12 months to be "excellent, better than the last 12 months," up from the 32% who said this six months earlier.
In Spring 2005, 38% of print and prepress firms cited "optimizing our production workflow" as a business challenge.
In Spring 2005, 39% of print and prepress firms cited "helping customers integrate new technologies" as a sales opportunity.
In Spring 2005, 15% of print and prepress firms planned to invest in a digital press; the second highest level ever.
In Fall 2005, 30% of print and prepress firms said that they offered customized Web sites for on-demand printing.
This article was last modified on December 19, 2005
This article was first published on December 19, 2005
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