BISG Report Finds More E-book Buyers Buying Print Books

Submitted: The Two Sides Team August 7, 2012

August 2, 2012

Publisher’s Weekly

In another sign that the industry is moving toward a hybrid market,
fewer e-book buyers reported buying only digital titles this spring
than a year ago. According to Book Industry Study Groups newest edition
of “Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading” report, the percentage of
e-book consumers who exclusively or mostly purchase e-books fell from
nearly 70% in August 2011 to 60% in May 2012. Over the same period, the
percentage of survey respondents who have no preference for either
e-book or print formats, or who buy some genres in e-book format and
others in print, rose from 25% percent to 34%.

The study also tracks changes in device ownership, showing that
Amazons Kindle Fire tablet has overtaken Apples iPad among e-book
consumers. Ownership of the Kindle Fire has grown from 7% of respondents
in December 2011 to 20% in May, while the iPad share has remained flat
at 17%. Ownership of other tablets remains relatively low, with 5% of
respondents owning a Nook tablet and 8% another Android-based tablet.

As had been expected, multifunction devices are taking an
increasingly large slice of the digital reading market. While the
Kindle e-reader is still the most often cited primary device for reading
e-books, its 35% share is down from 48% in August 2011, the report
found. Not all tablets are increasing in use: Apples iPad decreased
slightly from 10% in February to 9% in May, the report said, while
black-and-white and color versions of the Nook e-reader also dropped,
falling from 17% in August 2011 to 13% in May 2.

For more information on the report go to www.bisg.org.