The sector saw some severe casualties over the decade, with litho printers shrinking 25% from 18,087 in 1998 to 13,570 in 2005, while pre-press establishments dropped 45% from 3,142 to 1,717 over the same time period.

The repercussions of this is a smaller spend on equipment. According to the report the US print industry is outlaying less money on equipment now than it was in the mid-1990s – £2.5bn ($4.9bn) in 1998, compared with £1.8bn in 2005, with prices not adjusted for inflation, according to US census data.

The report argued that the printing industry, while smaller, is healthier than it was in the mid-1990s, but warned that "economic turmoil could have a 'trickle-down' effect and short-circuit whatever progress the industry has made in the past several years".

Digital printing, web-to-print, multi-channel marketing and environmentally friendly printing will remain hot in 2008, while online proofing, wide-format printing and variable-data printing are gaining in prominence. The trend for offshore outsourcing has peaked and is on the decline, while integrated automation and JDF are firmly on the backburner, the report said.

Digital printing is now the number one sales opportunity for printers, after hitting a new peak in autumn 2007, with 41% of printers identifying it as a growing market. In spring 2007, more than half (51%) of US printers performed digital printing in-house, while another 16% offered digital printing but outsourced it, according to an Industry Measure survey.