Digital Europe: Diversity and Opportunity - Let's Go Connected

ebooksUnlike the other categories discussed in this document, ebooks have only becomea significant mass-market phenomenon in the last two to three years, and remaintiny (though growing fast) outside the USA, UK and Japan.In 2010 ebook sales grew at a rapid rate but remained well under 10% in the USA.In the UK, where the Kindle launched with a fully local proposition only in themiddle of the year, ebook sales were in the low single digit percentages. Ebooksales were not meaningful anywhere else in the EU. In 2011 this changeddramatically:• US ebook sales rose to 20% of total consumer book sales• UK ebook sales rose to 11% and reached 15% or higher for some second-tierpublishers• Sales of some new releases are now over 50% ebookFor the moment, this shift in scale has been limited to the USA and UK (and tosome extent Japan). However, other larger markets are seeing strong growth inebook sales (from a very low base).There are several reasons for the difference in market development between theUK and other EU markets:• Availability of appealing, affordable ebook reading devices• Availability of a catalogue of a significant proportion of desirable titles asebooks• Cultural reasons: though hard to quantify, it is suggested, particularly forGermany, that different markets have different affinities for printThe most important of these is availability and penetration of devices.Growing device penetration will drive faster conversionEbook adoption is necessarily driven by device penetration. As such, it tends tosurge after each Christmas buying season, as new device owners begin using theirdevices. This effect is magnified by the fact that a relatively small number ofpeople buy the majority of books. In the UK, of 27 million adults, 22 million buy 10books a year or less. This is 51% of the value of the market. 1.75 million buy 20 ormore books a year and account for 25% of total market value.49 | 53 Let’s Go Connected 8 May 2012