The publishing industry is a major source of demand for the printing industry and traditionally both industries relied very much on each other. Like printing, publishing is also now deeply affected by electronic channels and changes in consumer behaviour. Having a look at the publishing industry can indicate how well publishing is keeping up with these trends.

Total industry sizing can be complicated as there are many sources, and they are sometimes incomplete and not often comparable. This article is based on Eurostat sizing data, which is derived from the national statistical offices. Data from national or European industry organizations are also available, and while they might be more precise, they can have different underlying statistical methods and hence would be difficult to compare. The challenges in sizing publishing became apparent when the statistical data for publishing was moved from the manufacturing to the services main segment in a big reshuffle of EU statistics. Unfortunately, the services statistics contain less detail than the manufacturing subgroups.

Publishing is a large business sector in Europe with more than 75,000 companies involved in the EU (including the UK), employing about 650,000 persons, and achieving almost €100 billion in production value. Norway and Switzerland would add another €5 billion in revenues. As a result, the publishing industry in the EU is about 20% larger than the printing industry in terms of revenue and about 10% bigger in employment.