Lexington, KY - WhatTheyThink, the leading online media organization serving the printing and publishing industry, today announced the availability of their most current report titled “U.S. Commercial Printing Profits, 1995 to 2009.” Authored by Dr. Joe Webb, director of WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center, the report is available for immediate purchase at:

https://store.whattheythink.com/economics/u-s-commercial-printing-profits-p-2

“The fourth quarter of 2009 continued a postive turnaround from a disastrous 2008 in terms of profits,” said Dr. Webb. “The industry has had significant declines in volume for 2009, and through a variety of initials of downsizing, mergers, and consolidations, produced a $700 million profit for the year, and three consecutive quarters of profitability. There are still challenges ahead because the right balance of productive capabilities, product offerings and price competition from electronic media, still create uncertainties for print executives and workers.”

In the report, Dr. Webb reviews the latest trends in shipments, profits, and capacity measures for the industry. “It is likely that the fourth quarter of 2009 will be identified as the recession's end. But we must be careful, because that only means that the economy has started to grow, and does not mean that it has returned to pre-recession levels of activity.” Dr. Webb indicated that shipments for January and February 2010 were down -6.4% compared to the same period last year. “It is difficult to be profitable when industry revenues are declining, and it is clear that many printing companies are staying ahead of the problem, and are consolidating business that would have gone to recently departed competitors. That's what happens when an industry restructures; it's critical to remain vigilant.”

The Printing Profits Report contains both current and inflation-adjusted analysis of commercial printing and print services shipments and profits from 1995 to 2009. The bonus audio file includes Dr. Webb's frank analysis, opinions, and strategic outlook. Containing Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint files, the cost of the report is $50.00 and features the audio commentary in MP3 format. Those purchasing the report can easily repurpose the charts and data for internal, client presentations, and reports. This edition of the report also includes a discussion about industry capacity and pitfalls in its measurement and interpretation.

The report contains significant and proprietary analysis and by Dr. Webb and WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center. It is a top-level analysis of the U.S. commercial printing and trade services markets such as commercial offset, digital, and other printing processes, as well as prepress and postpress contained in the standard business classification NAICS 323.

Purchase Profits Report Now

WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center contains a blend of free and premium content for graphic arts and publishing executives. It offers an online library of primary research reports, executive summaries of economic trends, and related industry columns, videos, podcasts and webinars.

About WhatTheyThink

WhatTheyThink is the printing and publishing industry's leading online media organization; offering a wide range of publications delivering unbiased, real-time market intelligence, industry news, economic and trend analysis, peer-to-peer communication, and special reports on emerging technology and critical events. Serving a membership base of more than 50,000, WhatTheyThink also hosts webinars and live events as well as providing content through a syndication program, which delivers content directly to related websites and through RSS. The organization also provides consulting and speakers bureau services to the industry.