Custom publishing continues to show strong growth as both funding and the number of new titles increased in 2006, according to a study by the Custom Publishing Council in cooperation with Publications Management.
The study – “Characteristics Study: A Look at the Volume and Type of Custom Publications in America” – attributes the upward trend in custom publishing to increased spending by corporate America, a surge in high-revenue businesses and a consistent move from the newsletter to the magazine format.
The number of custom titles published in North America rose last year to 125,044. Since 1999, the first year for which there are measurements, the number of custom titles has grown 29 percent.
The study found the average number of titles for each publishing company was 2.3.
In addition, custom publishing spending hit an all-time high of $55.6 billion.
In 2006, the magazine format accounted for 41 percent of the market share and the use of newsletters dropped to 35 percent.
The research also found that paid advertising in custom publications dropped in 2006 from 34 to 29 percent. The percentage of custom publications carrying paid ads, however, has more than doubled since 2002.
The researchers mailed surveys to a random sample of companies across all industries and received 200 responses.
