The digital book in Spanish continues growing
In 2022, the digital book market has grown by 4% worldwide compared to the previous year, and in Spain, it has grown by 5%.
Libranda, the digital services company for the culture and education sector has published the Annual Digital Book Report, a study that analyzes the evolution of the Spanish-language e-book worldwide in 2022, including detailed data on the entire digital book market by territory and business model. We highlight some data of great relevance:
2022 has been, once again, a year of growth for the Spanish-language digital book. After the exceptional growth that occurred in the period 2019-2021, in 2022 the market has grown worldwide by 4 % over the previous year, and in Spain, it has grown 5 %.
Spain continues to be the main market for Spanish-language digital books, with a share of 66.3 %. The second territory with the largest share continues to be Mexico, which experienced very significant growth in 2022, reaching a share of 16.2%, and the third territory with the largest share in the U.S., with a share of 9.8%.
6.6% of the books read in Spain are already in digital format. This figure, however, is much higher when it is a novelty (between 15% and 25%), and in the case of some titles it reaches 40%.
Three-quarters of sales (75.30%) are produced through giant platforms: Amazon, Apple, and Google. However, the document also points out that bookstore chains, traditional bookstores, and independent online platforms have experienced a growth of 31%.
Digital lending in libraries experienced growth compared to the previous year (33%) and reached a 6.6% share of the market.
The ebook subscription platforms, which in recent years had been increasing, had a significant decrease compared to the previous year (-15%) and their share remains at 5.8% in 2022.
75% of the titles purchased in digital format are of substance (only 25% are novelties) and fiction continues to rise, with 68.79% of consumption.
With respect to audiobooks, after five years of intense development of the category, the increase in revenue derived in 2022 exceeds that of 2021 by more than 50%.