We
live in an age where accessibility to entertaining content really isn’t a
problem. The problem for advertisers lies in how consumers are accessing that content.
Pew Research Center’s Internet Project shed some light on how people are
specifically consuming the written word.
Recently,
the research company conducted a survey asking respondents to report if he/she
read a printed book within the last 12 months. According to eMarketer, Pew
compared this data to information pulled in 2011 and 2012. Results showed that
while printed books had a slight dip in 2012 it is still the dominant choice in
reading format.
2011: 71% of consumers read a printed book within
the past 12 months
17% of consumers read an ebook
within the past 12 months
2012: 65% of consumers read a printed book within
the past 12 months
23% of consumers read an ebook
within the past 12 months
2014: 69% of consumers read a printed book within the
past 12 months
28% of consumers read an ebook
within the past 12 months
The
study also looked at the rate of adaptation and growth to ereaders and tablets
for reading materials vs. other digital devices.
Computers:
42% of ebook readers used computers in December 2011 which has shown decline to
29% in January 2014.
Ereader:
In 2011, 41% of ebook readers utilized ereaders. This number has increased to
57% in 2014.
Mobile
phone: 28% of ebook readers used mobile phones in 2011 compared to 32% in 2014.
Tablet:
The sharpest growth came from tablets with 23% usage in 2011 to 55% usage in
2014.
Overall,
it appears that consumers are still interested in reading; it just may come
from different formats. The printed word is still the most popular format with
ereaders and tablets working to close the gap.
