The Visual Media Association (VMA) has hosted a member and industry-wide ‘sneak peek’ release of its annual industry metrics findings, the second report across two years, exploring salary benchmarking, employment numbers and demographics, forecasting, apprentice numbers and more.

The Annual Industry Metrics Report, supported by Ricoh Australia, was started by the association in 2023 with a focus on understanding the industry through the lens of data, the first time in more than a decade.

It has been argued this is an important piece of work for the industry to represent itself accurately to government and for businesses to understand their market-share and industry forecasts for business strategy, with the printed annual report being distributed to levels of government across the country.

The ‘sneak peek’ release was hosted via a webinar briefing by VMA CEO Kellie Northwood.

Here are some of the key findings contained in the VMA Annual Industry Metrics Survey:

General industry trends

• Total industry employment is 229,113, reflecting the largest sovereign manufacturing employer in the country
• 4,435 (4,114 in 2023) businesses are registered as print or visual media businesses across Australia, with the majority of businesses being in New South Wales (28.75 per cent) and Victoria (28.75 per cent)
• 67.50 per cent of businesses operate across a single site
• 86.25 per cent of companies are privately owned and operated
• 37.5 per cent of businesses report $1 million – $5 million in annual turnover
• 37. 5 per cent of businesses report $5 million – $50million in annual turnover
• 17.5 per cent of businesses report less than $1 million in annual turnover
• 7.5 per cent of businesses report $50 million – $100 million in annual turnover
• 38.75 per cent of companies currently employ less than 10 employees
• 26.25 per cent of companies currently employ 11- 30 people
• 12.5 per cent of companies currently employ 51-100 people
• 64.91 per cent of industry employ men, while 38.63 of industry employ women and 8.33 per cent employ non-binary people

Service offering and diversity

• 84 per cent of average job size are under 1000 units, with 30.6 per cent being under 500 report offering commercial print – digital to market.
• 42 per cent of businesses are looking to invest in new equipment and upgrades to expand service offerings
• Packaging, warehouse, and logistics and finishing are the three top growth areas (this is the second year that packaging ranks the highest in diversification investment)
• In 2023, promotional products and merchandise and wide format fell into the top three, 2024 reports these sectors are receiving investment, however, warehouse and finishing is pushing ahead

Quoting jobs and workflow

• Job ordering is mainly via email (59.95 per cent) with e-commerce or web-to-print (30.15 per cent) second, and direct sales (27.09 per cent) third
• Job ordering to quote to production and distribution is the highest concern from businesses with high manual handling costs and fragmented automation being the highest concern areas
• 34 per cent of businesses report average job size has increased, however, 19.74 per cent report job size declined significantly
• 62.5 per cent of volume trends are linked to seasonal campaigns, such as Easter, Christmas, or sporting events
• 41.07 per cent of volume trends are linked to education and government, such as elections, budgets or school terms

Labour and salary benchmarking

• 77.78 per cent currently employ one or more first year/stage one apprentice (38.46 in 2023)
• 77.78 per cent currently employ one or more second year/second stage apprentice (53.85 per cent in 2023)
• 55.56 per cent currently employ one or more third year/third stage apprentice (30.77 per cent in 2023)
• 33.33 currently employ one or more fourth year/fourth stage apprentice 30.77 per cent in 2023)
• 2.44 per cent of companies pay 100 per cent to the award (10.29 per cent in 2023)
• 26.83 per cent of companies pay 5-10 per cent above the award (38.24 per cent in 2023)
• 39.02 per cent of companies pay 11-20 per cent above the award (36.76 per cent in 2023)
• 21.95 per cent of companies pay more than 20 per cent above the award (5.88 per cent in 2023)

Skills and training

• Finding candidates with the right skills in the biggest challenge for the industry (68 per cent) and a further 47.3 per cent report finding job-ready candidates is challenging
• In 2023, 47 per cent reported a return to onsite work and 2024 reports this trend will continue with a further 27 per cent returning to onsite
• 32 per cent report they will continue work-from-home arrangements. Industry reports showing increased balance of work from home and onsite average moving to four onsite and one offsite arrangements

Business certifications and standards

• 51.35 per cent of businesses hold no certifications
• 27.03 per cent of businesses are ISO9001 certified
• 24.32 per cent of businesses are FSC certified
• 8.11 per cent of businesses report carbon mapping
• 8.11 per cent of businesses are SGP certified
• 16.22 per cent of businesses have other certifications
• 18.92 per cent of businesses are ISO 14001 certified
• 8.11 per cent of businesses are PEFC certified
• 8.11 per cent of businesses are APCO certified

In February 2025, the VMA will host national roadshow sessions in Ricoh showrooms across the country, which will provide more analysis across the industry metrics. A digital report of the findings will also be released, as well as a printed version in February alongside the national roadshow briefings.

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