—“Characteristics Study: A Look at the Volume and Type of Custom Publications in America,”

http://www.custompublishingcouncil.com/news-industry-article.asp?ID=583
Key Findings in the Characteristics Study:
Circulation Soars:
Circ per issue: The average circulation per issue for custom publications increased from 30,044 in 2007 to 37,340 in 2008.
Circ per title: The average circulation per title per year has increased to 336,060 copies, up from 270,000 in 2007.
Circ volume in the market: The total number of custom publication copies distributed increased 7.4 percent over last year. Since the survey was first conducted in 1999, circulation volume has grown 228.3 percent, from 11.9 billion units to 41.6 billion.

Steady Frequency: The average annual frequency of custom publications remained steady at 9 times per year. Although it is lower than it was at its peak in 2003, frequency is still 42.9% higher than it was in 1999 when this study began.

Movement Toward Newsletters, Online: The use of online publications increased from 18 to 22%. Meanwhile, newsletters retained a slight edge over magazines this year as the preferred publication format.

New Directions in Distribution: 27% of publications on average are now distributed via the Internet. Before 2007, the survey didn’t include Internet distribution as an option. Meanwhile, the USPS continues to be the preferred distribution channel for custom publications, with 55% of titles using the service.

More Pages Per Issue: The average pages per issue for custom publications increased from 22.2 to 23.2. Since 1999, the number of pages per issue has grown 68.1%.

Unique Page Decrease: The total number of unique pages produced in 2008 was 25.8 million, a 9.7% decrease over the previous year. However, since the study began in 1999, unique page volume has expanded, with an average growth rate of 14.7% and an overall growth rate of 207.2%.

Change in Primary Audience: For the sixth year running, titles targeting external audiences exceeded those targeting internal audiences (69% versus 31%).

Presence of Advertisements Decreases: For the third year in a row, the percentage of custom publications using paid advertising decreased by 4%. Also for the third year in a row, the percentage of custom publications carrying no advertisements increased, with 70% of companies reporting no ads in their publications.

Overall money spent on custom publishing is down by 20%. Meanwhile, the number of unique custom titles being published decreased to 123,157, down from 143,000 in 2007. While this represents a sharp change, the results are still 27.9% higher than when this metric was first studied in 1999.