May 20, 2002 - WhatTheyThink.com and CAP Ventures have released the monthly Print Buyer Pulse Index. The data is compiled each month from print buyers throughout the United States. The goal of the index is to provide real-time analysis of print demand directly from the end user. In May, 45.3% of print customers expect their print spending to increase over the next 6 months, up from 41.4% in April, 38.1% in March and 36.0% in the February poll. What was very encouraging is that only 7.4% of print customers indicated they expect their print spending to decline over the next 6 months – the lowest percentage of print customers to expect a decline over the next 6 months since our tracking started. Print customers’ outlook for their print spending over the next 6 months is to increase a robust 4.9% up from the April 6-month growth expectation of 3.9%. The 6-month growth expectation has been consistent with the last three months. In general, most print customers have a positive outlook for the next six months. One area that bears watching is the very large print customers (spending of $1 million per year or more). For the last 3 months the percentage of these big print buyers with a positive 6-month outlook has decreased. Overall, the view from print customers is positive. Over the last six months print spending levels have been increasing and a growing percentage of companies expect higher levels of print spending over the next six months. Premium Access members at WhatTheyThink.com can view charts, graphs, demographics and complete comparisons with previous months. The complete results also include April actual spending and projected spending for May. The data can be accessed at www.whattheythink.com