Boston, MA – July 21, 2020 – The 2010s were the most photographed decade in history. Rise Above Research estimates that between 2010 and 2019 over 8.6 trillion photos were captured globally by film cameras, digital cameras, feature phones, smartphones, and tablets, which is seven times more photos than the previous decade.
The last ten years seem to have passed in a blink of an eye and represents almost half a lifetime for some in Generation Z, over 25% for some Millennials, and almost 20% for some Gen Xers. Important events have occurred in everyone’s lives, from births, to graduations, weddings, and the passing of loved ones. These special memories now lay dormant on hard drives and other storage media. With the passage of time, even casual snapshot photos may now represent special memories.
Rise Above Research estimates that less than 5% of photos taken in the last decade have been printed. “While the photo print industry has been focused on getting people to print recent photos, we believe that getting people to relive the past decade through their photo collections represents an untapped opportunity,” said Ed Lee, founder of Rise Above Research. “This is a great time for print providers to remind customers to print some of their special memories, as a way to preserve the past for the future,” added Lee.
About Rise Above Research, LLC
Rise Above Research, LLC is an independent market intelligence and strategic consulting firm that supports industry vendors, service providers, and retailers with actionable intelligence to assist them in making effective decisions in fast-paced digital photography and imaging markets. Established in 2020 by industry veterans Ed Lee and David Haueter, Rise Above Research has extensive experience providing groundbreaking market research and strategic consulting for the digital imaging industry. Our industry analysts have a combined 40+ years of covering a wide variety of imaging markets.