The China Digital Reading Conference (CDRC) is the preeminent event in the Chinese digital reading field, with a national-level, comprehensive approach that sets it apart from other industry conferences. As the highest-level and largest-scale event of its kind, the CDRC is considered an annual "wind vane" for the digital reading industry, bringing together industry partners to explore the latest development trends and future innovations in the field. With a focus on expanding and enriching the digital reading landscape, enhancing the spiritual and cultural consumption level of the people, and promoting nationwide reading, the CDRC is a vital forum for anyone interested in the future of reading in China.
The inaugural CDRC was held on April 21, 2015, in the picturesque city of Hangzhou, with the theme "Integration, Innovation, and Dreams." From the very start, Migu Digital Media Co., Ltd. (formerly known as China Mobile Reading Base) has been the driving force behind the conference's success, serving as the sole corporate organizer to this day.
At each annual event, attendees eagerly await the release of the previous year's digital reading analysis, a fixed action that has become a hallmark of the conference. While the thematic framework of the report has remained relatively consistent over the years, the content has evolved, with certain topics fading away while new ones take center stage. Against a backdrop of changing industry trends, issues, and developments, I've sifted through the analysis content from the past five years (2018-2022) of the CDRC to identify the key market evolution, development trends, and features that have emerged in the digital reading landscape over time.
Section 1: Changes in the Names and Development Background of the Conference and Report: An Overview
Before 2021, the annual digital reading conference was called the "China Digital Reading Conference." It was a national-level, independent industry event that brought together digital reading professionals from across the country. During those years, attendees would flood their social media feeds with pictures of the conference venue, and some even joked that "half of the digital reading industry had gone to Hangzhou." From the 8th conference in 2022, the event was renamed the "China Digital Reading Annual Conference" and became a part of the National Reading Conference. The conference was also given the title of "The First National Reading Conference Digital Reading Sub-forum." This change in name suggests that the conference's independence has decreased, its significance has reduced, and its requirements for inclusivity have increased. The term "annual conference" emphasizes the conference's periodicity and stability, making it more suitable as a fixed industry event.
Before 2019, the annual digital reading analysis released by the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association was called the "Annual Digital Reading White Paper." From 2020 onwards, the name was changed to the "Annual Digital Reading Report." The term "white paper" typically refers to an official report that clarifies and enforces regulations, and it has become an internationally recognized official document. The white paper is usually compiled by industry experts based on industry research, market analysis, industry development overview, and trends. From 2020 onwards, the annual digital reading analysis no longer emphasizes the authority of the government but instead focuses on the literature of the industry. If any conflicts or contradictions arise with other statistical data, they can be resolved within the industry itself.
In terms of the development background, prior to 2020, this section of the report was called the "Policy Section" in the "Digital Reading White Paper." From 2021 onwards, it was changed to the "Work Background" and in 2022, it was renamed the "Development Background."
Over the past five years, the policy and development background of the digital reading industry can be divided into two phases:
From 2018 to 2020, the national and policy levels emphasized the need for high-quality development in the digital reading industry, with a particular focus on regulating and managing the online literature sector. Through a series of policies and regulations, the industry's ecological environment was effectively streamlined. At the industry level, there were efforts to promote nationwide reading while also implementing policy requirements to improve the quality and standardization of online literature.
From 2021 to 2022, with the release of the national "14th Five-Year Plan" and the 2035 long-term goals outline, the industry was required to follow the top-level design of the country, with a focus on breakthroughs in new directions, new layouts, and innovation. Concepts such as "Digital China," "Cloud Reading," and "Digital Technology Empowerment" that were proposed at the national level in 2020 have become popular trends in the industry. At the policy level, several documents on digitalization strategies were released, and the concept of integrated development was elevated to a new level. In 2023, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Digital China." If the digital publishing and convergent publishing industries had reservations before, after the introduction of this overall plan, convergent publishing will be the most important direction for publishing reform in the next fiveyears and beyond.
However, with the upgrading of mobile internet technology, new challenges have also emerged in the industry. Measures such as internet security review and algorithmic recommendation management for internet information services have been introduced, imposing new requirements on the industry's development.
In terms of policy and development consistency over the past five years, planning, development, innovation, and management have been the guiding principles for the entire industry chain, with legal constraints and planning in place. The trend of explosive growth in digital reading is coming to an end, and the concepts of high-quality development and refinement have been put forward. The digital reading industry is required not only to seize the high ground in the rapid development of digital technology but also to enhance the unified concept and practice of social value, making greater contributions to society.
Section 2: Market Size and Revenue Composition: A Comprehensive Analysis
Looking at the overall digital reading market size, it has maintained an upward trend since 2016, with the market size increasing from 16.66 billion yuan in 2016 to 46.352 billion yuan in 2022, more than doubling in size. In comparison, the retail market for physical books has also grown, with national book retail sales reaching 70.1 billion yuan in 2016 and 87.1 billion yuan in 2022, a 23.4% increase. Despite the impressive growth of digital reading, its absolute value is only slightly more than half that of the physical book retail market.
The digital reading market has been on the rise, with the majority of years from 2016 to 2022 seeing growth rates exceeding 15%, except for two years: a 13.5% growth rate in 2019 and an 11.5% growth rate in 2022.
The digital reading industry in China began to take off around 2008, but it was not until 2010, when e-readers led by Hanvon swept the market, that digital reading truly took off, with the emergence of capital and new market opportunities. Many e-reader brands, especially after the entry of Kindle into China in 2013, and major e-book platforms, have made significant efforts, leading to the full release of the digital reading market before 2019. The "2019 China Digital Reading White Paper" specifically pointed out that the market size of digital reading includes hardware income such as e-readers, which accounted for the largest proportion of digital reading income that year. One important reason for the sudden slowdown in market growth in 2019 was the large-scale introduction of free reading by major players led by Toutiao since 2018, which had a major impact on paid reading. Subscription income fell sharply by 19% that year. If it were not for copyright income and the explosive growth of paid audio since 2016, the growth rate that year would have been even worse. In addition, the impact of policies mentioned in the previous section, such as the "clean-up the internet" campaign launched nationwide in 2018 and the requirements for standardization of online literature in 2019, led to a significant decrease in revenue from the telecom channel, especially for online literature.
2022 is also a special year. After reaching its peak in 2019, hardware income such as e-readers rapidly declined from 2020 and was no longer included in the statistics for digital reading in 2022. Income from e-commerce e-book platforms such as Dangdang and JD.com plummeted, and China Literature, which accounts for nearly 70% of the online literature market, saw its revenue drop by 12.03%, perhaps the biggest black horse. Income growth for audio platforms such as Himalaya slowed down, coupled with the impact of the pandemic on free reading, internal competition among internet products, and the dispersion of traffic, the growth rate of the digital reading market has been in a downward trend since rebounding in 2020. Unless unforeseen events occur, it is inevitable that the growth rate in 2023 will continue to slow down. In 2023, Kindle, the largest e-book platform, will officially withdraw from China, and so far, no platform has been able to take over this market.
The annual digital reading report divides the revenue structure of digital reading into several categories, which have also changed in the past five years: from 2018 to 2020, they were only divided into professional reading and popular reading, and from 2021, they were further divided into professional reading, popular reading, and audio reading. However, in earlier white papers, such as the one in 2017, audio reading had its own page for presentation and data analysis, and it is unclear why it was removed from reports from 2018 to 2020.
The definitions of these three categories are explained in the white papers and subsequent reports: Popular reading refers to the sum of market revenues that include online literature, electronic publishing, and audio works. Data comes from interviews with relevant companies conducted by the Digital Reading Work Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association and publicly available financial reports. The professional reading market includes internet journals, electronic literature, data, and other content. The report mainly focuses on income from internet journals, digital newspapers, and other sources, with data sourced from the annual report on China's digital publishing industry published by the China Academy of Press and Publication.
In the "2022 China Digital Reading Report," the statistical concept of digital reading is further clarified: The first part is e-reading, which includes reading e-books and online original literature works. The second part is audio reading, which includes listening to audiobooks, radio drama (programs), and online courses. The revenue generated from copyright adaptation, derivative development, and other related sources for these two categories is also included in the statistics.
Looking at the revenue distribution of the three major categories, if we trace the data back even further, the proportion of revenue from professional reading has been gradually declining, from 11% in 2016 to 6.89% in 2022. In the context of the overall decline of print journals and the widespread use of internet technology, internet journals are also becoming outdated compared to internet products. The proportion of revenue from popular reading has decreased from 81% in 2016 to 72.47% in 2022, mainly due to the separate inclusion of audio income in the statistics. Overall, the proportions of popular reading and audio reading are relatively stable, and the decline in professional reading accounts for most of the changes in the revenue distribution.
These three major categories are split based on the industry's professional attributes, and their proportion changes are not expected to be too significant due to market demand and user groups. For example, the audience for professional reading is inherently niche, and with the widespread use of internet technology, they have more channels and methods to access professional content, such as knowledge payment courses, resulting in a smaller proportion of digital reading. The audience for popular reading has remained stable based on data from the National Reading Survey conducted in previous years. Although the audio reading market is growing rapidly, the rise of free content has offset some of the growth, resulting in a relatively fixed proportion.
If we split the revenue of digital reading based on the content categories, we can see the changes in market size in more detail. In different years, different content categories together constitute the overall market size of digital reading. For example, in 2015, the revenue structure of digital reading was divided into information fees, O2O income, copyright operation income, and advertising income. In 2016, the revenue structure was divided into subscription income, copyright income, advertising income, and other income. In 2017, the revenue structure was divided into subscription income, copyright income, advertising income, e-readers, and other income. The 2018 white paper did not mention the composition of revenue structure. In 2019, the revenue structure continued the division of 2017, with the addition of electronic readers and other income. In 2020, professional reading and audio reading were split and divided into content/service payment income, other income, copyright trade income, author value-added service income, paid audio income, advertising income, and copyright operation income, but the division of popular reading was not mentioned, which was the strangest split in recent years. In 2021, the revenue structure was divided into subscription income, advertising income, copyright income, and other income. In 2022, it was divided into subscription revenue, copyright revenue, advertising and other revenue.
The composition of digital reading revenue changes almost every year because some revenue types appear, disappear, rise, or fall with changes in the market. For example, O2O income in 2015, e-reader income in 2017-2019, and author value-added service income in 2020. In the "2022 China Digital Reading Report," a year-on-year comparison analysis of subscription revenue, copyright revenue, and advertising and other revenue was conducted for the past five years.
The subscription revenue mentioned here refers to users directly purchasing and reading or listening to single books, single episodes, or membership-based content. In the past five years, subscription revenue has continued to decline, from 79.9% in 2018 to 48.73% in 2022. There are several main reasons for this: the "clean-up the internet" campaign launched nationwide in 2018 and the standardization requirements for online literature in 2019 have resulted in a significant decline in revenue from online literature, especially from operator channels. The rise of free platforms also has a significant impact on subscription revenue, and users are being diverted by other internet products, leading to a decline in subscription revenue for pure text content. Copyright revenue reached its peak in 2019, as the value of online literature in film, television, and game adaptations was amplified. That year, the copyright revenue of China Literature Group surged by 341% YoY to 4.42 billion yuan, and the copyright product revenue of iReader Technology increased by 91.7% YoY to 261 million yuan. The soaring copyright revenue of these two online literature giants contributed greatly to the positive growth of the digital reading market in 2019.
The watershed in 2019 remains significant. Previously, the "three pillars" driving the growth of digital reading were the rapid development of e-book business, the blooming of e-readers, and the wild growth of online literature. However, afterwards,the smoke from e-readers dissipated, the e-book business entered an adjustment period, and online literature was reined in from its wild growth. Copyright revenue began to rise, and if there were no unexpected events, it was expected to continue to grow rapidly, driving the upward trend of the digital reading market. However, starting from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, film and TV production was almost at a standstill, and game approvals became more strictly regulated, causing copyright revenue to drop by more than half in 2020.
After 2019, advertising and other revenue grew rapidly, increasing by nearly three times in proportion compared to the previous year in 2020, and maintaining at around 30% in the following three years. The main manifestations of advertising business are mainly concentrated in online literature and audio business: users of online literature and audio platforms can gain access to free reading or listening by browsing ads, or ads are inserted or implanted in written or audio works. The growth in the proportion of this type of revenue directly squeezes the proportion of subscription revenue: free reading and listening are compensated for by advertising revenue, ultimately leading to a decline in subscription revenue. Before advertising revenue can fully compensate for all the shortcomings of subscription revenue, it will directly slow down the growth rate of the digital reading market. This also confirms what was mentioned earlier: the overall growth rate of the digital reading market has been declining for three consecutive years since 2020.
Section 3: Analysis of Categories in the Digital Reading Market and User Reading Preferences
The report provides data on the growth of the number of categories in the digital reading market from 2020 to 2022, which were 31.036 million, 34.4686 million, and 52.7186 million, respectively. The number of categories in 2022 witnessed a significant surge, which the report attributes to the expansion of the surveyed quantity of audiobook platforms, resulting in a total of 15.1862 million audiobook works.
In terms of the composition of the digital reading market, mass reading has the largest proportion, followed by audiobook reading. However, whether it is mass reading or audiobook reading, the composition of the categories cannot be separated from the two major types of publications: electronic books and online literature. The copyright revenue in the income structure also mainly consists of these two types. The number of categories has also maintained high-speed growth.
2019 was once again a critical year. Looking at the category composition in the past five years, online literature has consistently accounted for over 69% of the market, except for the miraculous year of 2019, when its share slipped below 70%. As previously mentioned, this was due to the significant impact of policies and industry trends. The proportion of electronic books in the income structure rapidly declined after 2019. There are two possible reasons for this: first, the statistical calculation method in the report has changed, and the rapid growth of online literature has compressed the proportion of electronic books; second, the inventory of electronic books has been basically placed on shelves since 2020, and the number of new e-books added each year has greatly decreased. In practice, the first possibility is more likely. For example, the "2022 China Online Literature Blue Book" shows that there were over 3 million newly added online literature works in 2022, all of which fall under the category of digital reading. The "2022 National New Book Market Report" released by Beijing Open Book shows that there were over 170,000 new books launched in 2022, of which perhaps less than half were able to be processed and uploaded as e-books.
The reason for comparing the category structure of electronic books and online literature works is that the revenue from online literature is the major contributor to digital reading income. If we ignore the difference in statistical calculation methods before 2020, the proportion ofonline literature works in the past five years should be over 80%. The proportion of online literature works in digital reading income was disclosed in the 2015 White Paper, which showed that original online literature revenue accounted for 82% of the total. This data has not been disclosed again since then, but the proportion of online literature revenue should only have increased. In recent years, digital reading platforms such as China Literature and iReader have maintained the proportion of revenue from electronic books at around 10%.
At the user level, the most popular categories of electronic books and online literature books have undergone some interesting changes in the past five years.
From 2018 to 2021, the most popular categories in electronic books have consistently been literary novels, biographies, history and social sciences, textbooks and economic management, with literary novels always taking the top spot, while the order of the other categories changes slightly each year. In 2022, there was a new change in this data, as comics and picture books, and humor and comedy entered the top five. In particular, comics and picture books were once thought to be unsuitable for digital reading due to their reliance on visual imagery, but with the growing popularity of comic books in recent years, they have emerged as a significant category in digital reading. Humor and comedy, on the other hand, reflect another trend in readers' interest in entertainment and leisure reading.
In the online literature category, the most popular genres from 2018 to 2020 were still the traditional ones, such as urban life, historical and contemporary romance, workplace, fantasy, martial arts, and campus life. However, from 2021 to 2022, suspense and mystery became increasingly popular, and a new type of novel option emerged. The diversification of online literature works makes it increasingly difficult to classify them into specific genres, as many works often blend elements from multiple genres, such as urban, suspense, time travel, fantasy, and more.
From the perspective of the type layout and readers' attention in digital reading, it is clear that digital reading is primarily focused on entertainment, leisure, andinterest reading in the general reading market. Regardless of whether it is in electronic books or online literature works, the storytelling is the most important aspect, and easy reading is a significant feature of digital reading.
In the 2019 White Paper, there was a dedicated page named "Theme: Strengthening Content Orientation and Spreading Mainstream Ideas," which selected authoritative learning content for readers, making reading more comprehensive, highlighting key points of learning, and providing accurate theoretical expressions. Platforms for promoting mainstream content were built at the entry point of key digital reading platforms to leverage their advantages in spreading mainstream content. Efforts were made to continuously promote the dissemination of mainstream content, ensuring that learning resources for readers are sustainable and remain in sync with mainstream ideas. Later reports each year had a specific description and statistics on the key published themes. In 2020, the State Administration of Press and Publication launched the "Excellent Realistic Subject Literature Publishing Project," and platforms strengthened the mainstream idea reading section. In 2021, 46 key digital reading platform merchants had 97,932 key theme reading works. In 2022, 97 key digital reading platform merchants had 102,744 key theme reading works.
This key theme reading work is reflected in electronic books, including current theme publishing, works of realistic subjects, and online literature, mainly novels of realistic subjects. This is currently one of the key tasks in digital reading and even the publishing industry. In 2022, the total number of theme reading worksread in digital format using short video and non-short video methods was estimated to be about 201.57 billion times (including clicks, downloads, browsing, and reading). It is likely that the way and criteria used to count digital reading statistics will become even more diverse in the future.
At the beginning of 2023, from the Beijing Book Fair's theme publishing forum to the academic seminar on theme publishing held in Hangzhou, theme publishing has become a major event in the industry, transforming from a mission-oriented publishing model to a profit-oriented one, and occupying an important position in the "dual-effect unity" of publishing houses. In the theme publishing arrangements of various publishing houses, the application of convergent publishing technology in theme publishing is particularly important, which is reflected in digital reading through business forms such as e-books, audiobooks, and knowledge-based paid courses.
Starting from 2017, the report began to include "cultural overseas expansion" data, mainly relying on government-enterprise projects, cooperation with overseas publishing houses and translation websites, and the establishment of overseas websites and mobile reading platforms. The content topics cover science fiction, urban life, xianxia, romance, and other types. In 2022, the total number of works that went abroad was 618,100, an increase of more than 50% compared to 2021. The main types included historical and contemporary romance, fantasy, urban xianxia, and urban workplace novels. On March 10, the China Literature Group and the Global Opinion Survey Center of the Global Times jointly released the "2022 China Online Literature Overseas Fun Report," which showed that by the end of 2022, Qidian International had launched about 29,00 translated works of Chinese online literature, cultivated about 340,000 overseas web writers, and launched about 500,000 original works abroad. Online literature overseas expansion has attracted more than 170 million visitors, with an 8.5-fold growth in four years, becoming a powerful force in enhancing China's cultural competitiveness.
Overseas expansion has become a new growth point in online literature digital reading. The "2022 China Online Literature White Paper" from the Chinese Writers Association's Online Literature Center shows that the overseas market for online literature exceeded 3 billion yuan in 2022. However, unfortunately, electronic books have not yet received a share of this market.
Section 4: User and Payment Status of Digital Reading
Although the profit of electronic books is a bit dismal for the traditional publishing industry, looking at the overall digital reading industry, there seems to be some opportunities. According to the "2022 China Digital Reading Report," the number of digital readers has increased from 378 million in 2017 to 530 million in 2022, almost in line with the growth trend of China's internet users. The number of digital readers in 2022 has increased by 4.75% compared to 2021. However, in terms of growth rate, it has been declining steeply since 2018, dropping from over 10% to below 5%. These years are also the time when internet products such as short videos and live broadcasts are rapidly rising. The number of internet live broadcast users has increased from 396 million in 2018 to 751 million in 2022, with an increase of over 40% in 2020; the number of short video users has increased from 648 million to 1.012 billion, and the annual increase of new users in 2019 and 2020 were both more than 100 million. Therefore, the digital reading industry seems promising, but it is already implicitly containing a crisis. Although there is still a lot of room in terms of the overall scale of internet users, the penetration rate has greatly decreased.
Another noteworthy point is that the profile of digital reading users is slowly changing.
Starting in 2021, the report began tracking the proportion of male and female users in digital reading. In 2021, male users accounted for 56.53%, and in 2022, the proportion dropped to 55.87%, while the proportion of female users is increasing. This data may still be somewhat conservative. With the rapid rise of various online dramas in recent years and the growing popularity of female-oriented online literature, female users have shown a significant increase. In the field of audio books, the "2023 Spring Listening Data Report" released by Himalaya shows that in 2022, female users accounted for more than 65%. Women are becoming an increasingly important user group in digital reading.
In terms of age groups, the proportion of users in different age groups is changing.
In 2017, users were divided into teenagers (under 14 years old), young adults (14-35 years old), middle-aged adults (35-60 years old), and elderly adults (over 60 years old), with young adults accounting for 70.9%, middle-aged adults accounting for 27.3%, elderly adults accounting for 1.2%, and teenagers accounting for 0.5%.
By 2019, a new age group classification was introduced. Those under 18 accounted for 19.5%, those aged 18-25 accounted for 17.3%, those aged26-30 accounted for 18.7%, those aged 31-50 accounted for 43.3%, and those over 50 accounted for 1.2%.
In 2021, those under 18 accounted for 27.25%, those aged 19-25 accounted for 44.63%, those aged 26-35 accounted for 18.49%, those aged 36-60 accounted for 8.51%, and those over 60 accounted for 1.13%.
In 2022, those under 18 accounted for 16.96%, those aged 19-25 accounted for 36.6%, those aged 26-45 accounted for 30.55%, those aged 46-60 accounted for 13.23%, and those over 60 accounted for 2.74%.
The age group classification since 2019 has gradually become more unified. Looking at the data from these four years, the proportion of users under 18 is decreasing, while the proportion of those aged 19-25 is increasing significantly. Although the proportion of users over 60 is not large, it has doubled in the past two years. In terms of the occupational distribution of digital reading users in 2022, the largest proportion is students, followed by employees of enterprises and public institutions, and then professional and technical personnel. The users of digital reading have undergone significant changes from the "three low-income groups" of e-book readers proposed by some industry giants in the early days of digital reading. The doubling of the proportion of silver-haired users also indirectly confirms the phenomenon of many elderly users following dramas and novels.
The 19th National Reading Survey released by the China Academy of Press and Publication shows that the proportion of adults who have access to digital reading in China has increased from 24.5% in 2008 to 80.1% in 2022. During World Book Day in 2023, the Shanghai Library and other institutions jointly released the "Generation Z Digital Reading Report," which explores the profound impact of the generation Z (referring to those born after 1995) on digital reading content and industry trends. Data from the China Literature Group shows that 66% of its new users in 2022 were born after 1995, and 93% of QQ Reading's "Generation Z" readers read at least one book in the past 12 months. The average number of books read per year, at 11.7, also makes the Generation Z the main force in digital reading.
Looking at user willingness to pay over the past five years, 2019 was a year of significant growth, which was related to the numerous regulatory actions taken at the national level and played a promotional role in the development of digital reading to some extent. However, willingness to pay after 2019 entered a relatively slow growth period and even experienced a decline for the first time in 2022. An important reason for this is that since 2018, some platforms have begun to implement strategies such as free reading and listening, which have reduced the user payment rate. However, from the scale and revenue structure of digital reading, free reading, in the context of impacting paid reading, has not been able to completely fill the gap left by paid reading.
In terms of payment methods, in 2022, 63.78% of users chose to pay by chapter, and 30.07% chose to pay for the whole book, but both of these payment methods have declined compared to 2021. 38.22% of users chose to buy membership, which was the only type of payment preference to increase in 2022. With major platforms promoting membership reading, this has become the main payment choice for digital reading. However, the revenue sharing of membership benefits is not transparent, which has led to an increase in the number of platform members year after year, but content providers' income has not increased proportionally.
Finally, we must ask a question: where do users spend their fragmented time?
According to the 20th National Reading Survey, in 2022, the average daily reading time per adult citizen in China was 23.13 minutes, an increase of 2.08 minutes compared to 21.05 minutes in 2021. However, in stark contrast, the average daily mobile phone usage time for adult citizens in China in 2022 was 105.23 minutes, more than four times that of reading time. The comprehensive reading rate of various media among adult citizens in China continued to steadily increase in 2022, but the growth rate of digital reading contact rate was higher than that of paper book reading rate. For example, according to the 2022 Shanghai Citizen Reading Survey, the digital reading rate of Shanghai citizens reached 93.56%, surpassing the paper book reading rate (91.43%), an increase of 1.66% compared to 2021. The average daily digital reading time of citizens was 49.37 minutes, an improvement from 45.39 minutes in 2021. The 2022 Jiangsu Resident Reading Survey conducted by the National Reading Office also showed that the average daily reading time per resident in Jiangsu Province was 85.35 minutes, an increase of 7.56 minutes from the previous year. However, online reading is still the main reading method for Jiangsu residents, with an e-book reading rate of 64.51%, an increase of 0.13 percentage points from the previous year.
Nevertheless, compared to the time users spend on internet products such as short videos and live streaming, digital reading still lags behind. Data from the 2023 China Internet Audio-Visual Development Research Report shows that as of December 2022, the average daily usage time per user for short videos was 168 minutes, far ahead of other applications. The average daily usage time for comprehensive video was 120 minutes, surpassing instant messaging since the end of 2020 and ranking second.
Section 5: Key Trends Over the Past Five Years
Over the past five years, the final section of white papers and reports has consistently focused on trends and prospects, with several key themes emerging. These include:
Policy Leadership: This theme has been present in reports from 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022. The focus has shifted from guiding the quality of digital reading through policy, promoting universal reading, emerging publishing, and media convergence, to promoting mainstream cultural demands, poverty alleviation, achieving a moderately prosperous society, and resuming work and production. The aim is to strengthen guidance and leadership, improve supply, strengthen core ideological learning, promote scientific and academic innovation, inherit and carry forward excellent culture, and actively create original works. By establishing top-level plans, this theme aims to guide the direction of industry development, with a clear emphasis on value leadership in 2022.
Technology Empowerment: This theme has also been present in reports from 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022. The focus has shifted from advancing all-media construction, leading digital upgrades, and empowering intelligent experiences, to using 5G+ new infrastructure to bring new opportunities for content production, marketing, and recommendation, creating new experiences for digital reading terminals, and accelerating the intelligent process of content supply through 5G commercialization. Digital reading companies are utilizing new technologies to accelerate new business layouts, expand reading new scenes, and transform the industry. In 2022, this theme highlights the continuous catalysis of new technologies in driving industry transformation, the ongoing integration of various entities in the industry chain, and the need to further explore more diverse business models and value realization methods. The transformation of the digital reading industry by digital technologies remains uncertain.
Cultural Globalization: This theme has been present in reports from 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. The focus has shifted from policy, capital, industry collaboration, and value derivation accelerating cultural globalization and promoting cultural integration, to further enriching the subject matter of content going global, self-publishing platforms going global, channel globalization, and dissemination platform globalization. The aim is to create excellent projects, strengthen overseas research, leverage overseas exhibition resources, innovate outbound models, and promote international communication by telling good Chinese stories. In 2022, this theme emphasizes the deepening phase of the digital reading industry's outbound acquisitions.
Content Excellence: This theme has been present in reports from 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. The focus has shifted from promoting the process of content excellence and service diversification through policy guidance, platform self-inspection, author self-discipline, and reader improvement, to creating digital reading classics of high quality through policy guidance and platform cooperation. In 2021, there was a consensus on upgrading quality and efficiency, with content excellence remaining the core focus. Attention is placed on meeting user needs and focusing on the development of high-quality intellectual property. However, in 2022, the phenomenon of homogeneous content has not been fundamentally reversed, and digital reading companies' awareness of content excellence, as well as their mechanisms for creation and dissemination, still need improvement. The lack of collaboration among various links in the publishing industry chain means that the supply of high-quality content remains insufficient.
Service Experience: This theme has been present in reports from 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. The focus has shifted from providing multi-level, professional, intelligent, audio, and scenario-based digital reading services to building a complete digital reading ecosystem. This is achieved through content influence and various reading activities that guide readers to improve their reading taste and enhance themselves, as well as by improving content quality, perfecting product functionality, and optimizing service models. In 2021, the emphasis was on consolidating a healthy development foundation by improving the guarantee system.
Market Order: This theme has been present in reports from 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. The focus has shifted from lawfully managing and self-regulating the industry to strengthening corporate social responsibility. The comprehensive content review mechanism has been used to ensure timeliness and coverage of content related to sensitive topics, to regulate market order, crack down on piracy and infringement, improve laws and regulations, and strengthen policy guidance and management. In 2022, piracy and infringement still occur, and platform monopolies remain unresolved, indicating that market order needs further regulation.
Section 6: Conclusion
According to the data analysis above, the digital reading market has undergone several significant changes and trends in the past five years.
Policy support for digital reading has remained consistent, with the Chinese government emphasizing the importance of digital transformation and promoting the development of the digital economy, society, and government. Reports from the past five years indicate that digital reading is gradually becoming integrated into mainstream reading systems, with themes, strategies, direction, and monetization being regulated under the mainstream management system. In other words, those who understand the policies will thrive in this industry.
According to the data analysis above, the digital reading market has undergone several significant changes and trends in the past five years. Policy support for digital reading has remained consistent, with the Chinese government emphasizing the importance of digital transformation and promoting the development of the digital economy, society, and government. Reports from the past five years indicate that digital reading is gradually becoming integrated into mainstream reading systems, with themes, strategies, direction, and monetization being regulated under the mainstream management system. In other words, those who understand the policies will thrive in this industry.
While the growth of the digital reading market has slowed, it is still expanding, and its revenue structure is undergoing changes. Subscription revenue was once the primary focus for digital reading, but it is no longer sufficient. Copyright revenue is becoming more important, as intellectual property development, multi-format development, and internet platform access become more widespread. If content cannot generate opportunities for intellectual property development, relying solely on text payments will result in limited space and low income ceilings. Internet companies' traffic strategies are also impacting the content revenue of digital reading, and advertising subsidies are unlikely to fill this gap. Thus, while advertising revenue is worth considering, it should not be the sole focus.
Digital reading needs to reach users through multiple channels, and technology has enabled this diversification. Whether for mass reading or professional reading, audio reading, games, movies, or knowledge payment, digital reading is becoming more diverse. With the rapid development of AI, AIGC, AR/VR technology, digital reading has even more possibilities. Platforms and content providers need to keep up with technological advancements and changes and produce innovative products to avoid falling behind.
The impact of the pandemic on the digital reading industry has been significant, but the changes brought about by free reading are worth noting. The slowdown in digital reading growth began in 2018, when today's headlines introduced free reading and later free audio reading. With its large traffic pool, it quickly dominated the digital reading market, along with other providers such as Qimao Novel and Qu Reading. Paying for reading has yet to take root in the hearts of users, and the pandemic has objectively supported the industry by driving the explosive growth of the mobile internet market. Without this support, the impact of free reading may have been even more profound.
In terms of mass appeal, online literature is the backbone of the digital reading industry. Traditional e-books have fallen short in terms of variety, audience coverage, revenue, and monetization channels. Online literature, on the other hand, has maintained its digital presence from the start, providing more possibilities for IP adaptation and cultural globalization. Mass-market e-books need to establish their own unique path rather than remaining a derivative of traditional printed books. In the professional reading field, traditional e-books have their advantages, but they are mostly due to content monopoly and channel specialization, which cannot be replicated and have limited space.
In terms of mass appeal, online literature is the backbone of the digital reading industry. Traditional e-books have fallen short in terms of variety, audience coverage, revenue, and monetization channels. Online literature, on the other hand, has maintained its digital presence from the start, providing more possibilities for IP adaptation and cultural globalization. Mass-market e-books need to establish their own unique path rather than remaining a derivative of traditional printed books. In the professional reading field, traditional e-books have their advantages, but they are mostly due to content monopoly and channel specialization, which cannot be replicated and have limited space.
The most important characteristic of digital reading is its storytelling. Regardless of professional reading, content's storytelling ability is crucial for attracting audiences and generating significant revenue. online literature naturally possesses storytelling abilities, and traditional e-books must follow suit by becoming more grounded and user-friendly. In fact, in many reports from the publishing industry, "story" is the most frequently mentioned term. To break through in the digital reading industry, especially in copyright operations, IP adaptation, and cultural globalization, traditional e-books must focus on storytelling.
The number of users is slowly increasing, and the user demographic is also changing. The "three lows" group, once a subject of industry ridicule, is no longer the primary audience for digital reading. According to the above report analysis, the proportion of young and middle-aged users has increased significantly, and older users are also becoming more prevalent. This presents new challenges for content providers and platforms in the digital reading industry. As our users grow, are our contents keeping up with their needs? We cannot rely on yesterday's trends to succeed in today's digital reading market. We also need to ask ourselves: what are today's young readers interested in? To keep up with the growth and changes of our user base, we must continuously adapt to their preferences and interests.
The golden age of digital reading content and its wild growth period have come to an end. After the digitalization of the stock of works, traditional e-books have lost their voice on the platforms. High-quality and best-selling books are now the key to success, and without them, natural sales alone are insufficient. After the 2018 crackdown, online literature has become increasingly regulated in terms of content and platforms. While in the past, some online literature platforms used traditional e-books to enhance their cultural image, they can now even appear on the list of top books in China due to the increasing presence of realistic themes within online literature. Digital reading is entering a new phase of high-quality content rather than relying solely on quantity.