Over the past quarter, only 11% of graphic design and production firms in the US said their wide-format projects are in decline, while 11% said the work was "increasing a lot".

A quarter expected wide format to "increase a little" and half were not expecting any change.

Around two in three firms said they had worked on wide-format projects for clients, although this work is rarely passed on to commercial printers.

TIM senior analyst Richard Romano told printweek.com: "As for why these jobs are not being sent to commercial printers, it's been our experience that a) US printers aren't buying wide-format equipment and, if they are, it's almost solely for proofing purposes; b) commercial printers don't often support the wide array of substrates and finishing options that specialty sign shops do; and c) creatives may not know that their commercial printer can produce these materials."

Much of this work can simply involve reformatting Quark files to send to a sign shop, and as such is often overlooked as a sales opportunity for the market, said the research firm.

"It's a low mark-up project and thus not seen as a profit centre," said TIM. "But in the grand scheme of advertising and marketing, wide-format – and outdoor – graphics are an essential element."