With the waiting list at 253 million, OverDrive saw demand for almost one billion downloads in 2022.
OverDrive’s digital library lending numbers for 2023 have been announced, and as usual its bad news for the Markus Dohle fantasy world where ebooks are forever 20% of the market.
With digital checkouts totalling 662 million, a 19% rise on 2022, here’s how the numbers broke down for 2023.
Ebooks: 370 million, up 12%
Audiobooks: 235 million, up 23%
Magazines: 56 million, up 75%
Comics and graphic novels: 37 million, up 14%
And to rub salt into Dohle’s wounds, the ebook and audiobook holds/wait list stood at 253 million (+19%). In other words there would have even a further 253 million downloads, taking the total to 915 million. And to put that yet another way, if the content had been available, OverDrive could have clocked close to one billion digital downloads last year.
Globally, 152 public library systems in seven countries (up 13%) clocked more than one million downloads apiece, and among those 72 clocked more than two million, while the front runners saw downloads hit 11 and 12 million. (Details to be published by OverDrive soon.)
The numbers speak for themselves, so this will be an unusually short TNPS LinkedIn Pulse newsletter.
But let me leave you with this parting thought:
Unlike retail and subscription – even all-you-can-eat subscription – there is no price friction when it comes to digital libraries.
Yet still ebook consumption outperforms audiobook consumption by 36.5%, with 135 million more ebooks being borrowed than audiobooks.
Don’t tell Markus!
This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn Pulse newsletter.
