September Printing Shipments Up +$198 Million; Five Months of Increased Shipments

September is the first month of commercial printing’s most important quarter. The September-November period traditionally represents more than 26% of the industry’s shipments for the year.

For the year-to-date, current dollar shipments are up +0.4%, and real shipments are down -3.2%.

A large portion of the increase may be related to increased political spending, and may not be sustainable after the elections. Today’s Advertising Age reported that spending on campaigns is up more than +17% compared to 2004. Though the article focused on broadcast, all media have likely benefitted from hotly contested races. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the +17% increase is in the range of a +10% real increase compared to 2004, and may explain part of August’s strong rise in shipments.