This column is the first in a monthly series highlighting trends, happenings, and markets in the wide-format graphics industry, and it comes at a time when the wide-format printing segment, as we know it, has changed. And I believe it has changed for the better.
No Longer a Siloed Specialty
In one simple word, convergence has had a profound effect on the printing industry writ large. In the 2025 Wide-format Impressions 150 list, which highlights the largest (by revenue) producers in the United States and Canada, only 22 of the 150 companies included work exclusively in wide-format markets — that’s just shy of 15%. The other 85%, are doing wide-format as well as other things, be they commercial printing services, direct mail, packaging, industrial printing, or other applications. For more evidence on how convergence is changing wide-format, take a look at page 28.
Acquisitions Change Dynamics
As some segments in the printing industry have become more competitive and less profitable — commercial printing is a good example here — many companies have looked to wide format for its higher profitability and customizable approach. As a result, a significant number of acquisitions of wide-format companies by commercial printers have taken place in recent years as these companies decide it is easier to acquire an existing wide-format business than to build one from scratch. This reality has driven the wide-format and commercial segments closer.
Read the rest of this feature on Wide-Format Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
