The BISG just released their latest report, Consumer Attitudes Towards Ebook Reading. It is a 41-page document chocked full of fascinating stats and information. There are major sections devoted to ebook market trends; pricing issues and eReading devices. As with any survey and report, the numbers are never absolute. But there is still a lot to learn from this report.
Ebook Market Share – Many reports generally have Amazon, B&N Nook and Apple eating up over 95% of the eBook market share. B&N and Apple have each claimed 20% in the past. The BISG report paints a different picture.
The question: “Where do you typically acquire ebooks?”
(BISG chart)
Amazon came in at 67.0%, B&N Nook 11.8% and Apple iBooks at 8.2%. The “Other”section had 12.8%. Although “Other” was not broken out, it probably consists of Kobo, Google, Sony for retail; direct from publishers or perhaps the public library. The subscription services are just starting out, so I doubt they were considered. For the next report, would love to see more detail on the “Others” and see if it increases.
But from this sampling, the market share appears to be coming out of Nook and Apple, not Amazon.
Book Genre – Digital v Physical – The overall trade market has been at approximately 30% digital / 70% physical for the past year. But that is for all trade books and doesn’t push into the details of specific categories.
The BISG report asks: “For those genres you like to read, please indicate whether you prefer to read them in print or in ebook form.”
(BISG chart)
The results are in-line with traditional thinking in that the top ebook categories are Romance/Erotica; Thriller/Mystery; General Fiction; Religious Fiction and YA Fiction. Quick reads and stories have continued to do well in digital.
Of the 14 categories listed. 10 have a stronger preference for digital.
The four categories that have the strongest physical book preference are Cookbooks; Graphic Novels; Travel and How-To Guides. These categories are all still strong on-line but not via traditional ebooks. Many digital content sales are in Cooking (allrecipes.com); Graphic Novels (comixology); Travel (fodors.com) and How-To (YouTube) but not ebooks. All are also options for Apps which is not included in ebook numbers and can be a substitute.
Children’s Books (except YA) were not included as a category. But picture books, board books, and activity books are mostly physical. Although there are a lot of cool and creative apps and subscriptions that cater to children’s content. Even the basic definition of what consists of an ebook comes into question.
Digital has rocked the publishing world and almost six years into it, we are starting to see trends and are able to preview the future. These are just a few data points of many that will be reported, analyzed and updated.