PMA Monthly Printing and Camera Trends Report – September
PMA Marketing Research, Jackson, Mich., has released the PMA Monthly Printing and Camera Trends Report covering highlights and overviews through September 2008. According to the report, the volume of prints made from digital-still camera images increased by 17 percent and home printing grew by 5 percent. Statistics from the NPD Group Inc. showed that overall demand for digital cameras decreased 5 percent in September. Demand for cameras with 8 megapixels or more increased by 130 percent. The PMA monthly printing and camera trends report, for the month of September, in PDF format, is available to members here.
Data Watch: U.S. households take photos with digital cameras for variety of reasons
It is widely known that digital cameras have become increasingly popular since the turn of the century when they were just making their way into the market. Only 9 percent of U.S. households owned digital cameras in 2000, and this figure jumped to 66 percent by 2007, according to the PMA Camera/Camcorder Digital Imaging Surveys. Not only has digital camera penetration changed, but so have consumers’ attitudes toward picture taking, according to PMA Marketing Research.
Back in 2000, the prominent reason for taking pictures with a digital camera was to send the photos by email, cited by 77 percent of digital camera households, but this dropped to only 42 percent in 2007. In 2007, preserving memories was at the top in terms of reasons for taking pictures, given by 91 percent of digital camera households, up from 68 percent in the year 2000.
In 2000, households were more likely to take pictures to use on their computer for a hobby or for business, and they were more likely to take photos for business purposes in general than they were in 2007. Digital camera owners were also more likely to state mastering the skill as a main reason for taking pictures with their digital cameras. In 2007, households were more likely then they were in 2000 to take pictures because they simply like taking photographs or as an artistic expression. Households were more likely to state sharing with others as a main reason for taking pictures in 2007. This is not surprising given the current status of social networking sites. With such emphasis on the custom gift product market it also makes sense that taking pictures for the purpose of giving them as gifts to others ranked higher in 2007 than it did in 2000.
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The generation gap in social networking and why should we care.
According to the 2008 PMA U.S. Camera/Camcorder and Digital Imaging Survey, 76 percent of digital camera owners under 30 years old, share photos on social networks. Among older digital camera owners only 24 percent have photos uploaded on Facebook or other social network. According to another survey, done by phone on a representative nationwide sample, 64 percent of all U.S. consumers aged 18-29 use social networks compared to only 13 percent of older adults. The very low penetration of social networking among adults over 29 means sharing images across generations, today, must be done via prints, the common denominator among everyone. Indeed, about 80 of the photo printing households make prints for the purpose of giving them to family and friends (2008 PMA U.S. Consumer Photo Buying Report). The high penetration of social networking among young adults, however, implies that the network effects benefiting photo exchange on prints could weaken suddenly in the medium term.