Nielsen BookData’s Consumer 2022 presentation at the London Transport Museum has revealed a slight decline in the UK book market in 2022. According to the research, UK consumers bought 348 million books last year, a decrease from the pandemic-boosted highs of 2020 and 2021, with volume and value down by 4 percent to 5 percent compared to 2021. However, the report shows that spending was up by 4 percent over the past five years, despite a 2 percent decrease in volume sales since 2018.
Nielsen is optimistic about the future of the book market in the UK, citing the market’s inability to keep up with the bumper sales of 2021. The decline was mainly driven by a 10 percent fall in e-book volumes to 72 million and a 3 percent drop in print purchases to 250 million. However, the audiobook market, which saw more than 50 percent growth since 2018, also experienced a slowdown in 2022.
The report reveals a shift from hardbacks to paperbacks in the print market, with strong performances in many fiction genres, including romance, fantasy, graphic novels, and horror in adult fiction, young adult fiction, graphic novels, and children’s activity books. Brick-and-mortar bookstores regained nearly all their share lost during the pandemic, either in-store or via their online retail offerings, accounting for 37 percent of volume purchases across all categories in 2022.
The report also delves into the impact of social media on the book market, with one in four book users surveyed in 2022 stating that they had used TikTok’s BookTok. These consumers accounted for nearly 90 million book purchases last year, with females aged 13 to 34 being the largest users of this platform. However, Nielsen’s observations indicate that physical shops, word-of-mouth, and online book retailers remain more important sources of book discovery than video sites.
The controversy around TikTok’s safety and control remains a topic of discussion. The CEO of its parent company, ByteDance, Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before a US congressional hearing on Capitol Hill. The Biden administration has demanded that ByteDance sell off its interest in TikTok so that it is no longer subjected to being under Chinese control.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.