Page 34 - Print21 Magazine May-June 2022

PacPrint
Display gold in wide format
There will be more wide format print systems on show at PacPrint than any other type of printer, refl cting the high popularity of the technology, and the opportunities that continue to grow, reports Wayne Robinson.
Since display print began
to turn to digital 20 years ago it has become an increasingly important revenue stream for printers
of all kinds, from the dedicated billboard and display printers who switched over from screen printing, to the offset printers looking for another arrow in their quiver, to the franchises and high street printers who saw an easy way to make more from their customers.
With printers available from $20,000 up to $1m and more, there is something for everyone, and a wide range of technologies, inks, sizes and feed types available. There will likely be a dozen on show at PacPrint, or
at least under the co-branded Visual Impact area of the show.
For many print businesses,
wide format print, with its myriad applications, has proven to be a happy hunting ground over the years. True, the days of being able to sell
a pull-up banner for $600 are long gone, but the market for wide format print applications continues to evolve, and this includes everything from posters and pull up banners
to interior décor, furniture, floor graphics and everything in between.
Digital signage is impacting the market of today’s outdoor print.
For instance, only 40 per cent is printed, but even there while the share of the market is diminishing the market size is growing, so overall print volumes are not really affected. You would certainly not think the market was struggling if you walk around some of the country’s big outdoor printers. Billboard Media, for instance, in Melbourne, has just installed three new five-metre wide EFI Print systems.
For commercial print businesses wide format is the easiest addition to their business they can make. They already have the file management skills, the colour management skills, and the customers. A large proportion of their existing client base will want some kind of wide format print at some point in their year. Plugging
a wide format printer into the prepress is relatively straightforward.
34 Print21 MAY/JUNE 2022
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Investment is not demanding for most print businesses, certainly not when compared with an offset press, and even for the franchise printers a sub $20,000 investment will get you a great printer.
Visitors to PacPrint will see both flatbed and roll to roll systems, and printers with differing inks – latex, UV, eco-solvent – all offer benefits, which is why it is important to talk to several suppliers, to get a handle on what you really want. For instance,
if you are aiming for the general business market, you will want a different printer to if you are looking at getting into interior décor, or film sets, or soft signage. But fear not, there is plenty of choice for whatever market you are aiming for.
The spend on outdoor media
is bouncing back from its Covid hammering, with December the first month to exceed pre-pandemic revenue levels, but the annual figure still remains 20 per cent down on the 2019 pre-Covid year. The year just gone 2021 saw an increase of 24
per cent on net media revenue, up to $812.7m from the $655.2m for 2020. Net revenue year-to-date still trails pre-pandemic results, which was $982.3m in 2019. However, in a positive portent, the December 2021 figure was the first month since Covid that revenue exceeded pre-pandemic levels. In good news for the industy quarter four 2021 saw an increase of 13.3 per cent on net media revenue year-on-year, posting $247.6m, up from $218.6m for quarter four 2020.
Similarly, the return of sporting events, concerts, conferences, exhibitions, travel and tourism – all traditionally big spenders on display graphics – heralds good news for anyone in wide format printing, or thinking
of getting into it. Work from all those sectors dried up for much of the two years of Covid but is now returning.
With a dozen wide format print systems on display, PacPrint will be the number one place to check out opportunities for your business this winter. 21
Wide format: Opportunities continue