It is a reasonable question.
We communicate through screens. We send contracts electronically. We read newspapers on phones. We receive advertising through social media, search engines, and email. Artificial intelligence is now capable of producing images, writing copy, and designing campaigns in seconds.
So why print?
The more interesting question may be: Why does print continue to matter when digital communication is everywhere?
The answer has less to do with nostalgia than many people realize.
Print is changing.
And in many parts of the industry, it is becoming more targeted, more personalized, more measurable, and more technologically sophisticated than it was a generation ago.
The Printing Industry Did Not Disappear. It Changed.
The idea that digital technology would simply eliminate printing was always too simplistic.
Some traditional forms of print have undeniably declined. Newspapers and certain types of magazines have lost enormous amounts of volume to digital media. Many businesses no longer print documents that once filled filing cabinets.
But printing is not one industry serving one purpose.
It includes commercial printing, packaging, labels, direct mail, signage, books, promotional materials, variable-data printing, fulfillment, industrial applications, and countless other forms of physical communication.
And those categories are behaving very differently.
Recent research from Smithers illustrates the shift. Its analysis estimates that global print and printed packaging value reached roughly $898 billion in 2024, even as total print volume remained below its 2019 level. At the same time, digital printing continues to expand: Smithers valued the global digital-print market at $167.5 billion in 2025 and forecasts it to reach $251.1 billion by 2035.
That tells us something important.
The future of printing is not necessarily about printing more. It is about printing better.
From Mass Production to Relevance
For much of its history, commercial printing was built around scale.
Print thousands of identical brochures.
Print tens of thousands of postcards.
Print one catalog and distribute it to everyone.
Modern printing increasingly works differently.
Digital printing and variable-data technologies make it possible to change elements of a printed piece from one recipient to another. Names, offers, images, geographic information and other data can be incorporated into campaigns without requiring every recipient to receive the exact same message.
That changes the economics and the purpose of print.
Instead of asking, “How many pieces can we produce?”
Businesses can ask a better question:
“How relevant can each piece be?”
That is a profound shift.
A restaurant can promote an opening to people in a particular neighborhood. A nonprofit can communicate differently with long-term donors and first-time contributors. A retailer can tailor offers to different customer groups. A real estate company can create geographically specific campaigns.
The printed piece becomes part of a data-driven marketing strategy rather than an isolated piece of paper.
Physical Media Has Something a Screen Cannot Fully Reproduce
There is another reason print remains valuable: physical objects behave differently from digital ones.
A digital advertisement competes with dozens of other things happening on the same screen.
An email competes with an inbox full of messages.
A social media post can disappear from someone’s attention within seconds.
A physical piece occupies space.
A postcard sits on a desk. A well-designed brochure can be passed from one person to another. A beautifully produced invitation can become part of an event rather than simply an announcement about it. A package can communicate quality before the customer even opens it.
That physical interaction matters.
Print creates a different kind of attention because it asks the recipient to interact with something tangible.
This does not mean print is automatically more effective than digital marketing. It means the two channels do different jobs.
The smartest businesses increasingly treat them as complementary.
A customer might discover a company through Google, see it again on Instagram, receive a personalized postcard, visit a landing page and ultimately make a purchase.
The important question is no longer print or digital?
It is how should print and digital work together?
The Rise of the Connected Print Campaign
This is where the printing industry becomes particularly interesting.
A printed piece does not have to be the end of a marketing journey.
A QR code can connect a postcard to a landing page.
A personalized URL can connect an individual recipient to a customized digital experience.
A direct-mail campaign can be coordinated with email and social media.
A printed catalog can drive customers to an online ordering system.
A package can introduce a customer to a digital loyalty program.
In other words, modern print can function as a bridge between the physical and digital worlds.
The piece of paper is no longer necessarily the destination.
Sometimes it is the doorway.
Direct Mail Is Becoming More Strategic
Direct mail is another area where the old image of printing does not tell the full story.
The traditional model was relatively straightforward: produce a large quantity of mail and send it to a broad audience.
Today, better data and digital printing allow businesses to be considerably more selective.
Instead of sending exactly the same message to everyone, marketers can segment audiences, personalize content and coordinate physical mail with digital campaigns.
That makes direct mail less about volume and more about relevance.
The strongest campaigns are not simply “print campaigns.” They are marketing campaigns that happen to include print.
That distinction matters.
AI Will Change Printing—But It Won’t Replace It
Artificial intelligence is likely to have a significant impact on the printing industry, but perhaps not in the way people initially expect.
AI can help businesses generate ideas, analyze customer data, automate repetitive processes, create variations of marketing content and support design workflows.
Industry organizations are already identifying AI, automation, and changing production models as important forces shaping print in 2026.
But AI cannot physically deliver a postcard.
It cannot place a beautifully printed package in a customer’s hands.
It cannot replace the material decisions involved in paper, ink, finishing, texture, size and physical presentation.
Instead, AI may make the printing process more intelligent.
It can help determine what should be printed, for whom, when and why.
That is potentially far more valuable than simply using AI to generate another piece of marketing copy.
Sustainability Is Becoming Part of the Conversation
The future of printing also has to include an honest conversation about sustainability.
The industry uses paper, inks, coatings, energy and transportation. Those impacts cannot simply be ignored.
At the same time, sustainability in print is more complicated than saying “digital is green and print is wasteful.”
The environmental impact of any communication depends on how it is produced, distributed, used, and discarded.
Responsible printers and print buyers have opportunities to reduce waste through better production planning, efficient digital workflows, responsible material choices, and more precise targeting.
The goal should not be to print everything.
It should be to print intentionally.
A thousand irrelevant pieces are waste.
A thousand well-targeted pieces that produce meaningful customer action are something very different.
Packaging May Tell the Biggest Story
One of the clearest examples of where physical print continues to evolve is packaging.
A product can be excellent, but before a customer experiences the product itself, they often experience the package.
Labels, cartons, inserts, sleeves and other printed materials communicate information and identity. They can differentiate products on crowded shelves and reinforce a brand’s personality.
Smithers’ industry research has consistently identified packaging and labels as some of the stronger growth areas within the broader print market.
That makes sense.
As e-commerce grows and brands compete for attention in physical and digital marketplaces, packaging becomes part of the customer experience.
The box is no longer simply a container.
It is media.
The Real Future of Print Is Personal
Perhaps the biggest change happening in printing is philosophical.
The industry used to be largely about producing physical material.
Increasingly, it is about producing physical experiences and outcomes.
A business does not really want 10,000 postcards.
It wants customers.
A retailer does not necessarily want 50,000 catalogs.
It wants sales.
A nonprofit does not want a pile of beautifully printed letters.
It wants engagement and support.
A company does not need another brochure simply because brochures exist.
It needs a communication tool that accomplishes something.
That distinction is likely to separate the strongest print companies from the rest of the market.
The printer of the future will not simply ask:
“What would you like us to print?”
The better question will be:
“What are you trying to accomplish?”
Once that question is asked, printing becomes much more interesting.
Print’s Next Chapter Is Not About Going Backward
There is a temptation to describe the future of printing as a battle between old and new.
Paper versus screens.
Offset versus digital.
Traditional marketing versus AI.
Physical versus virtual.
But that framing misses what is actually happening.
The industry is blending these technologies.
Offset printing remains important for applications where scale and economics make it appropriate. Digital printing is opening opportunities for personalization, shorter runs, and variable content. Automation is improving production. Data is making campaigns more targeted. AI is beginning to influence workflows. Packaging and labels are creating new demand.
Smithers’ recent research projects continued growth in digital printing over the coming decade, while its broader market analysis shows the industry evolving rather than simply disappearing.
That may be the most important fact about printing today.
Print is not fighting technology. Technology is helping redefine print.
The industry that once existed primarily to reproduce information is becoming an industry focused on relevance, experience, personalization and connection.
And perhaps that is why print continues to have a place in a world dominated by screens.
Because sometimes, after we have scrolled past hundreds of messages, opened dozens of emails, and asked AI to create something in seconds, there is still value in receiving something that was deliberately made, physically produced, and placed directly in our hands.
The future of printing may not belong to the companies that print the most.
It may belong to the companies that understand why something deserves to be printed in the first place.
