The biennial report by Mintel, commissioned by the Association of Publishing Agencies, puts the value of the industry at £904m in 2008, which was up 33% from £680m in 2006.
The increase was driven by an influx of new clients to the medium, including House of Fraser and the Co-operative Group, with the number of pitches per agency up from five in 2006 to 11 in 2008.
The last few years have seen a substantial reduction in the importance of advertising in customer magazines. In 2004 advertising revenues accounted for 39% of turnover but this has fallen to 19% last year.
Over the next two years the two main sources of growth are expected to be new client spend on printed publications and higher spend by existing clients on digital work.
Asked whether the outlook of the report, which was researched over the summer and finalised in November, reflected the current state of the industry, the APA's chief operating officer Julia Hutchison stood behind the figures.
"From a new business point of view we have never been busier," she said, referring to the APA's new business consultancy .
She added that customer publishing would still do well in the downturn thanks to its focus on customer retention, its ability to demonstrate effectiveness and the growing amount of digital work clients were requesting.