Industry stakeholders working on assumptions aligned with the Statista forecasts will have much to be cheerful about, and the full insights of NielsenIQ will make for fascinating reading.

Chile’s Book Market Valuation Stuns Industry: NielsenIQ Reports US$161 Million Size in 2025

NielsenIQ BookData’s preliminary findings, unveiled at CONTEC 2025 and summarised in the latest NielsenIQ newsletter, reveal a vibrant and commercially significant Chilean book market worth an estimated US$161 million, with 14 million units sold annually.

Key highlights from the NielsenIQ early report:

  • Local dominance: Titles with Chilean ISBNs represent 49% of total revenue, a strong showing for domestic publishing.
  • Regional influence: Imports from Spain (27%) and Argentina (13%) make up significant portions of the market.
  • Bestseller spotlight: El Buzón de las Impuras by Francisca Solar (Editorial Urano) tops the 2025 bestseller chart.

Three Takeaways for Publishers:

  1. Local Production Pays Off
    Nearly half of all revenue now comes from Chilean-authored or locally published works, signalling strong consumer appetite for domestic voices and culturally relevant content.
  2. Regional Book Trade Matters
    Spain and Argentina remain key players in Chile’s book supply chain, underlining the country’s position within Latin American and Spanish-language publishing networks.
  3. New Opportunities for Data-Driven Strategy
    With fresh visibility into ISBN distribution and sales breakdowns, publishers can make better-informed acquisition, translation, and distribution decisions, especially for niche genres.

A Major Recalibration of Market Size Expectations

Perhaps most striking is the contrast between NielsenIQ’s valuation and earlier projections. Statista’s previous forecasts had pegged the 2025 market at just US$36 million, with a gradual climb to US$41 million by 2030.

That gap is not necessarily an error by Statista – there has simply been a long-standing lack of reliable, comprehensive industry data in Chile. For years, stakeholders operated with limited visibility.

For those making business decisions based on older, conservative market size assumptions, this updated NielsenIQ insight will come as welcome and game-changing news.

This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsletter.