WhatTheyThink’s annual printing industry outlook report is now available in our Report Store. The report contains a wealth of data, industry trends, and our forecast through 2028 It also includes the full results of our Business Outlook survey conducted in Fall 2019. This article offers some of the top-level results from that survey.

In terms of revenues, business in 2019 has been perceived by our survey respondents as pretty good: 48% said that revenues had increased by six percent or more compared to 2018 (up from 42% in last year’s survey), while 12% said that they had decreased by six percent or more, substantially up from last year (4%). Twenty percent of respondents said that revenues for 2019 stayed roughly the same compared to 2018, up from 15% last year.

Almost two-thirds (62%, about the same as last year’s survey) of respondents expect revenues to increase by six percent or more in 2020. Only 3% (up one percentage point) of respondents expect revenues to decrease by six percent or more. Overall, just over one-third (36%) expect revenues to hold steady, with minimal increase or decrease, if any.