Americans spent a total of $469 million on downloaded audiobooks during 2018. That’s a 37.1 percent increase over the year before and the third straight year of double-digit growth.
At the same time, eBook sales slipped for the third straight year. Still, while the trends are accelerating, people are still spending a lot more on eBooks — just over $1 billion last year.
A couple of older formats still top the sales charts. Hardcover books generated $3.1 billion in sales, and paperback sales reached $2.7 billion.
Overall, among all formats, consumers spent $7.8 billion on books in 2018. That’s a 4.6 percent increase from 2017.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.