A study from Pew Internet has reported that the percentage of Americans who read ebooks has gone up from 16% in 2011 to 23% in 2012 and, conversely, the percentage of Americans reading printed books have gone down from 72% in 2011 to 67% in 2012. One can expect a continued shift in percentages between electronic books and printed books, especially since tablets and dedicated e-readers have risen in popularity and are owned by 33% of Americans as compared to last year’s 18%.
Pew’s research notes that consumers displayed little preference between tablets and dedicated e-readers in the last year, with both devices showing close to 10% ownership each in 2011. However, with the year 2012 coming to a close, tablets have started to push ahead as the more popular choice and the numbers have shifted. As of November 2012, 25% of those polled confirmed that they use tablets to read ebooks while a smaller 19% admitted to using dedicated e-readers.
Reading books doesn’t seem to have lost popularity as a popular hobby, with most consumers polled utilizing their personal gadgets to full effect, but it seems that even public libraries are keeping up with the times. Libraries have adapted by offering readers the option of borrowing electronic books as well as physical books, with the percentage of people borrowing ebooks going up from 3% last year to 5% this year. Libraries have also engaged in promotion campaigns to create awareness about these offers. As a result, the percentage of library visitors aware of these promotions and offers has grown from 24% to 31% in 2012.
Electronic books are definitely immensely popular, but it is interesting to note what demographic has shown the most interest in this form of media. As it turns out, readers most likely to pick up ebooks include people with college or graduate degrees, people with household incomes of more than $75000 and people falling between 30 to 49 years of age. It goes without saying that there are more ebook readers from urban areas than suburban or rural areas and the general consensus is that ebooks are quickly taking over as the popular media for literature.
