WIPO Releases 2021 International Publishing Statistics

From the International Publishing Association:

Preliminary data collected from the World Intellectual Property Organization’s global survey of publishing activity shows that economic recovery in 2021 extended to the publishing industry: most countries reported higher revenue in 2021, following declines in the first year of the pandemic in 2020.

Among the top publishing markets, the US (+13.6%), Italy (+12.2%), Japan (+7.5%), the UK (+5.1%) and Germany (+3.5%) registered considerable revenue growth.  Trade sector revenue accounted for more than half of total revenue for most major markets, with educational sector revenue playing outsized roles in Brazil (61.4%), the Netherlands (63.4%) and Mexico (75.1%).

The trend towards digitization continued.  Where comparable data are available, they suggest an increase in the share of revenue due to digital/audio formats – increasing, for example, by around five percentage points for Finland and Japan.  At the same time, the share of online sales – amounting to more than 50% in the UK – seems to have stagnated, after a strong increase upon the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

Along with an increase in industry revenue, most countries also reported an increase in the number of titles published, with France (+12.5%), Brazil (+10%), Italy (+7.3%) and Türkiye (+6.9%) recording among the fastest growth.

Direct to Full Text Report: The Global Publishing Industry in 2021 Preliminary release October 2022
10 pages; PDF.

Filed under: Data Files, Digital Preservation, News, Publishing