The Transition to Digital: A Smooth, Fast Ride?
In a summary of "Publishing in the Digital Era," a Bain & Co. study for the Forum d'Avignon released in late October 2010, authors Patrick Bêhar, Laurent Columbani and Sophie Krishman wrote: "At first glance, the publishing industry seems unlikely to suffer the same jolting upheaval as the music industry experienced when new technologies hit it. Several factors suggest a fairly smooth evolution toward the digital age, including most readers' continuing attachment to paper, the complementary nature of e-books and paper, and limited electronic piracy, at least to date."
However, the Bain & Co. study (of almost 3,000 consumers across six countries) found that readers "tend to read more when equipped with digital readers. And that's not the only encouraging news for publishers: The vast majority of those readers will pay for their e-books," according to the summary.
The study predicts that 15 percent to 25 percent of book sales will be from digital formats within about four years, indicating "the book industry is heading into wholly new territory," wrote Bêhar, Columbani and Krishman.
Google Dominating Apple: Mobile Advertising Projected to Reach $2 Billion in 2011
"Google dominates mobile advertising, with a market share of 59 percent of total spending, including search and display advertising, followed by Apple with 8.4 percent and Millennial Media at 6.8 percent, according to IDC [International Data Corporation, a global provider of market intelligence, advisory services and events on the mobile and wireless markets]," according to the article, "Apple beware: Google will rule the mobile industry in 2011, claims IDC," on MobileMarketer.com.
Google and Apple are running head-to-head for mobile Internet display ads, with both holding 19 percent of market share, the article reported. Millennial Media, an independent ad network, follows close behind with approximately 15 percent of market share for Internet display ads.
When it comes to mobile search advertising, however, Google blows away any competition, holding 91.4 percent of the ad revenue market share, according to MobileMarketer.com.
Karsten Weide, research vice president of digital media and entertainment at IDC, Framingham, Mass., was quoted in the article, highlighting the overall growth in the mobile market: "The key finding is that the market grew very fast this year, by about 146 percent, which was much faster than we thought, and we also think that next year we will see almost $2 billion for mobile online advertising," she said.
Show Me the Money: Majority of Publishers Offer E-books, Minority Can Calculate ROI
Sixty-four percent of publishers offer titles in e-book format, according to a survey of more than 600 publishers across the trade, professional and educational markets, conducted in summer 2010 by digital publishing solutions provider Aptara. This is up from 11 percent a year ago, when Aptara conducted its first study of e-books' impact on the publishing market.
Sixty-two percent of publishers offering e-books, however, reported an inability to calculate their return on investment (ROI) from e-books.
On the brighter side, 14 percent of respondents reported realizing a stronger ROI from e-books than print.
E-reader/content compatibility issues continue to rank as the top challenge for publishers in producing e-books.
The study also found that almost one-quarter of publishers producing e-books employ XML.
Other findings include:
• Just 7 percent of respondents are implementing enhancements to their e-books;
• 41 percent support EPUB;
• 36 percent of those offering e-books are distributing their titles for the iPad, the iPhone and the Kindle.
To download the full results and analysis of the study, visit: tinyurl.com/35kfatp. BB
- Companies:
- Apple Computer