With drupa 2028 scheduled from May 9 to 17, 2028 at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre) its recent industry report made available through drupa insights, paints a bright picture for PSPs, with suggestions that Print is gaining ground in the media mix, as service providers continue to expand into new markets and broaden their capabilities and portfolios. The report suggests that traditional boundaries between segments of the printing industry are becoming increasingly fluid. PSPs are increasingly looking to move into adjacent applications and serving additional markets. This development is being driven by changing customer expectations, new production capabilities and the search for growth beyond established core businesses.
The extent of this shift is illustrated by a 2025 Alliance Insights survey of North American print service providers: 83% of the 339 respondents reported serving at least one segment outside their core business. To provide an international perspective, Alliance Insights supplemented the survey with research into verified business developments across Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa. Among the documented cases, packaging emerges as the strongest area for cross-market expansion, particularly in Asia and South America. The report also found that 69 percent of print buyers surveyed expect the share of print in their communications and media mix to increase over the next twelve months. Rather than signalling a return to traditional communication models, this points to a more deliberate allocation of roles across different channels: print is being deployed where physical presence, precise targeting and tactile quality can make a distinctive contribution to communication.