PUBLICATION CENTER

To help professional photographers and portrait studios get a clearer picture of what’s going on in various portrait markets, the PMA has published the 2008 PMA U.S. Portrait Report. The report is derived from a survey mailed in February, 2008 to a representative national panel of 20,000 people. PMA received responses from 9,013 people.

The survey is designed to:  Evaluate the level of demand in various segments of the portrait market (school, family, sports, wedding, and events); decode consumer expectations with respect to portrait products relative to their demographics and lifestyles; evaluate the levels of demand for different types of portrait delivery methods (prints, CDs/DVDs, photo books, greeting cards); and identify the habits and impact of aspiring and part-time photographers

The report found that U.S. consumers spent $7.6 billion on a variety of products, including: $968 million on wedding photos; $1.06 billion on portraits of children taken in the studio or home;  $1.12 billion on school photos (K-11); $904 million on high-school senior portraits; and $430 million on sports team and sports-action photos.  Overall, $4.6 billion (or 61%) of the $7.6 billion was spent on portraits involving children.

The report also lists how much consumers spent on products such as: newborn baby photos, nursery/day care photos, photos for specialized activities (dance team, theater, cheerleading), theme-park photos, family reunion portraits, school and business events, adult sports (marathons, teams), passport photos, Santa photos,  vacation/cruise ship photos, and glamour shots.   

 The report’s authors noted that consumers have traditionally received their portraits as prints, but “that standard is being challenged as consumers become accustomed to publishing and sharing images online.”

The study lists some of the reasons households gave for not visiting a studio or hiring a photographer and talks about whether ownership of a digital camera had affected a household’s portrait-buying habits.

A 20-page summary report is available free to PMA members and includes an overview of how much U.S. families and individual consumers spent on portrait services during the past year. A premium version of the report includes data tables showing a breakdown of how each question was answered, cross-tabulated by demographic variables. The premium version is $50 for PMA members, $149 for non-members.