Industry Spotlight:
Religious

Rarely does a week go by where there isn’t an article on religion in a national magazine. It’s constantly in the national, regional, and local newspapers. It’s influencing the political arena, news networks, TV talk shows, and even Hollywood.

According to Michael Zigarelli – dean of the School of Business at Regent University – there are an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 Christian-owned and operated businesses in the U.S. today. That accounts for an impressive 10% of all corporations.

How’s that for a potential client base?

Let’s take a look at some quick stats about this market:

• Listings in The Shepherd’s Guide – the nation’s leading Christian business directory – have more than doubled in five years.
• Consumer purchases of religious products are growing faster than overall retail industry.
• Christian radio market share has grown from 2.2% in 1999 to almost 6% today.
• There are nearly 2,500 Christian radio stations and 30 music label/record companies.
• Christian books frequent The New York Times bestseller list, and almost every major publisher has a religious line – most acquired in the last few years.
• Religious book sales grew 14.2% from 2002 to 2005 (compounded annually), with the book publishing industry overall growing 4.4% (according to the Association of American Publishers).
• The Who’s Mailing What! Archive alone has tracked 2,334 religious mailings.