Budding authors out there should get writing, if the latest InfoTrends study is anything to go by the book market is looking at more than 40 billion extra pages to fill over the next four years. According to the report, overall print volumes are tipped to grow by 1.2% by 2017, with book printing showing the largest gains.
The InfoTrends 2012-2017 US Digital Production Printing Application Forecast suggests that the ongoing change in print demand in a number of applications is likely to drive still more work from offset presses onto digital. The report identified falling run-lengths, economics, and electronic transfer as each contributing to the shift. All-up digital colour page impressions are expected to go up by a whopping 14.2%, considerably outpacing the overall boost in print numbers.
The study explored 28 specific application segments, from promotional and transactional to packaging and utility, and measured the volume shifts in key markets. Digital work on direct mail, magazines and catalogues are all set to increase. Book work saw the biggest jump of all segments, though, with a predicted spike of over 40 billion pages expected by 2017, overtaking DM as the top digital segment.
TransPromo saw the next highest increase, with work tipped for an extra 14.9 billion pages going spare, although numbers remained low overall.
