Expenditures on custom publishing totaled $912,532 per company — down 20 percent from '06, the first decline in five years — despite an increase in the percentage of marketing budgets allocated to custom publishing — up from 24 percent to 27 percent — according to a new study, reports MarketingCharts.

Spending allocations to e-publications remained relatively flat with 17 percent of share (compared with 19 percent in 2006), while 83 percent was allocated to print, according to the study released by the Custom Publishing Council (CPC) and Publications Management.

Some 40 percent of the companies surveyed said they plan to increase their custom publishing outlay in 2008, while 48 percent said they will maintain at the same level and 12 percent said they plan to decrease spending.

The use of external agencies to create custom publications also increased - from 43 percent in 2006 to 48 percent in 2007. For companies that outsource, custom publishing companies are their top choice, up to 35 percent from 23 percent in 2006, followed by design firms (30 percent), advertising agencies (28 percent), other companies (10 percent) and PR firms (8 percent).

Spending by large companies (defined by revenues of over $1 billion) decreased 21 percent to $1,329,286 per company in 2007; small-company spending decreased 12 percent, to $863,857 in 2007.

"We've had steady spending increases since 2002, so we are expecting that this dip in expenditures is temporary," said Lori Rosen, executive director of the Custom Publishing Council.

"The good news is that more and more companies are not only outsourcing, but they are going first to custom publishing companies. That's a trend we expect to continue because of the quality of work offered by custom publishing firms."

Other notable trends found by the CPC/Publications Management survey:

• For-profits increased their spending 6.2 percent, to an all-time high of $1,116,082 per company; however, nonprofits decreased their spending on custom publishing 33.6 percent, to slightly less than $800,000, bringing the overall average down this year.

• Of a total custom publishing budget, 42 percent is spent on production; 38 percent on personnel; and 20 percent on distribution. For the first time in four years, spending on distribution decreased.

About the data: This research has been conducted annually by Publications Management for seven years via a mailed survey targeting a random sample of companies across all industries.

Among the 200 companies represented were Aetna, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Re/Max International, State Farm Insurance, Sunkist, and VistaCare.