Amy Watson
Research expert covering news and publishing
E-books in the United Kingdom (UK) - statistics & facts
Monitoring the e-book market can be challenging. One reason for this is that without figures from Amazon it is difficult to paint a full picture of unit sales and publisher revenue. That said, the most recently available data placed digital book revenue in the UK at 3.1 million British pounds, over one million higher than in 2015. Estimates show that digital publishing revenue from e-books, although prone to fluctuations, will approach 800 million GBP in the next few years, close to the revenue of digital newspapers and magazines combined. But e-book revenue forecasts aside, how do UK book readers interact with the format?
The most used brand for e-book purchasing among UK buyers is Amazon, though Apple Books and Google Play Store also have their place. Longstanding high street chains WHSmith, Blackwell’s, and Waterstones are less popular, accounting for only a little over a third of e-book purchases between them. However, not all consumers access e-books via legitimate sources.
E-books: readership, access, and purchasing
A survey on e-book reading frequency revealed that almost 40 percent of consumers in the United Kingdom aged 12 years or above read e-books most days or one to three times per week. Among teens aged 12 to 15 years old that figure was 10 percent higher than the total at nearly 50 percent, making this demographic the most frequent e-book readers. The most common method of accessing e-books remains online purchasing, though getting e-books via download was also a popular option.The most used brand for e-book purchasing among UK buyers is Amazon, though Apple Books and Google Play Store also have their place. Longstanding high street chains WHSmith, Blackwell’s, and Waterstones are less popular, accounting for only a little over a third of e-book purchases between them. However, not all consumers access e-books via legitimate sources.
Illegal e-book access: a persistent problem
Illegal e-book consumption remains relatively common – almost a quarter of respondents to a 2022 study said that they accessed e-books via an illegal platform or a mix of legal and illegal channels. Media piracy in general is difficult to control, and data revealed that this behavior is not exclusive to a particular demographic but is practiced among all age groups. E-books were more or similarly likely to accessed illegally than TV content and video games, with adults aged between 35 and 44 years purportedly the leading culprits.
