Association of American Publishers October 2020 Statshot Report Shows Industry Revenues Up 7.3% For Month; Down 1.0% Year to Date

From the Association of American Publishers (AAP):

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for October 2020 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (Consumer Books), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses.

Total revenues across all categories for October 2020 were up 7.3% as compared to October 2019, coming in at $1.2 billion. Year-to-date sales were down 1.0% as compared to the first ten months of 2019, with a total of $12.4 billion.

Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were up 2.4% year-over-year, coming in at $960.6 million. Year-to-date (January-October 2020) Trade sales were up 6.9% as compared to the same period last year, coming in at $6.9 billion.

In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of October, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 1.8%, coming in at $456.8 million; Paperbacks were down 0.7%, with $246.3 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 2.7% to $19.8 million; and Board Books were up 19.7%, with $27.0 million in revenue.

On a year-to-date basis, Hardback revenues were $2.6 billion, up 6.9%; Paperbacks were $2.1 billion, up 3.3%; Mass Market was $187.7 million, a decline of 0.9%; and Board Books were $154.8 million, up 18.3% as compared to the first ten months of 2019.

eBook and Downloaded Audio

eBook and Downloaded Audio revenues continued to grow in October, as well as on a year-to-date basis:

eBook revenues were up 20.4% for the month as compared to October of 2019 for a total of $96.9 million. On a year-to-date basis, eBooks were up 16.5%, coming in at $956.3 million for the first ten months of 2020.

The Downloaded Audio format continues the long-standing trend of seeing continuous growth every month since 2012.  Downloaded Audio revenues saw a 14.3% increase as compared to October of last year, reaching $56.9 million in revenue. Physical Audio, however, was down 32.4% coming in at $3.0 million.

On a year-to-date basis, Downloaded Audio was up 17.3% as compared to the same period in 2019, with a total of $553.6 million for the year so far. Physical Audio was down 33.7%, with $19.8 million in revenue.

Religious Presses

Religious press revenues were down 1.0% in October, coming in at $59.6 million. The category was basically flat on a year-to-date basis with an increase of 0.3%, and revenues of $537.2 million for the first ten months of the year.

Education

During October 2020 Education revenues were $248.3 million, up 31.9% compared with October of 2019. Year-to-date Education revenues were down 9.3% as compared to the first ten months of 2019, coming in at $5.5 billion.

Revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were up 280.2% for the month, as compared to October of 2019, coming in at $93.4 million. On a year-to-date basis, Higher Education revenues were up 2.3% to $2.6 billion.

PreK-12 Instructional Materials revenues were down 14.0% for October 2020, at $103.9 million. PreK-12 Instructional Materials revenues were down 21.1% at $2.4 billion on a year-to-date basis.

Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, increased 22.0% during the month, coming in at $47.0 million. The category was up 3.3% for the first ten months of the year, with $500.5 million in revenue.

University Presses were down 7.6% as compared to October of 2019, bringing in $4.0 million in revenue. On a year-to-date basis, University Presses rose 2.2%, bringing in $41.2 million for the first ten months of 2020.

See Also: AAP September 2020 Statshot Report: Publishing Industry Up 14.6% For Month; Down 1.8% Year To Date

See Also: AAP August 2020 Statshot Report: Publishing Industry Flat For Month; Down 4.6% Year To Date

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Journal Articles, News, Publishing