The Stationers Company has commissioned a report from consultants Martin Glass of EMGE & Company and Jim Bilton of Wessenden Marketing titled European Digital Media Landscape to 2020 – The Future of Paper and Print.
It’s a follow-up to a similar report from five years ago, which at the time was regarded as unnecessarily gloomy in its forecasts but that turned out to be realistic as digital alternatives to print combined with an economic maelstrom to rock the printing and paper industries.
The report explores how printers adapt to cope with the current digital landscape that now encompasses mobile internet and cloud-based storage, and has seen a general fall in demand for paper. The authors state: “Print will remain in demand, albeit at a lower level than before, and paper demand will continue to decline in Western Europe in the coming years.”
The report also finds that new, disruptive technologies will affect other media forms, such as television, noting: “The outcome will be a greater emphasis on a multi-channel approach to marketing, better evaluation of performance and a more dynamic and re-structured advertising universe.” The authors believe that greater use of technology in measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns will lead to increased spending on advertising, bringing further opportunities for print.
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