Statistics: E-Reader Ownership Increases in the UK as Nation Becomes a “Smartphone Society”

A 4% increase in e-reader ownership in the UK during past year is one of a LARGE number of media usage statistics shared in the new 2015 “Communications Market” report published by the Ofcom, the communications regulatory agency in the United Kingdom.
Some highlights from the report are found in a new Publishing Technology blog post. We’ve also embedded the full text of the report (124 pages; PDF) at the bottom of this post.
From Publishing Technology:

This report shows that 28% of UK households now own an E-Reading device such as an Amazon Kindle – up 4 percent from last year.
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Even while it shows reading device ownership on the rise, Ofcom’s research also shows that reading itself is rapidly losing ground as a leisure activity – particularly among young people. When asked which ‘media device’ they would miss most, a mere 1% of 16-24 year olds said they couldn’t live without books, magazines and newspapers, compared to 12% among 65-74 year olds. Meanwhile 59% of 16-24 year olds said the device they would miss the most was their smartphone, followed a long way behind by the television at 17%.

Read the Complete Blog Post and Analysis
Summary News Releases from Ofcom
Smartphones are now the most popular way of going online in the UK.

• The UK is Now a ‘Smartphone Society’
• Northern Ireland Is Now a ‘Smartphone Society’
• Scotland Becomes a ‘Smartphone Society’
• Wales Leaps Ahead In Superfast Broadband Availability

Full Text Report

The Communications Market 2015 (UK)

Filed under: News, Publishing