What's reshaping China's reading market?

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With fragmented free time and traditional paper books seemingly in decline, Chinese bookworms' reading preferences have changed a lot in recent years, with more and more people reading on mobile devices and paying for content online, as well as using new services such as online libraries.

Beginning in 2016, paid digital content saw a meteoric rise in China. In just half a year, Chinese companies such as Igetget, Guokr and Zhihu launched a range of products and services for online readers.

People read paper books in a bookstore. /VCG Photo

Firstly, purchasing behaviors have seen readers move from buying paper books online to purchasing e-books to read on e-reader devices.

Online libraries have also grown popular, with services such as Amazon Prime Reading, QQ Reading and NetEase Snail in China, where users can explore a large selection of e-books online after paying for a timed subscription. This represents the next step of the trend, where readers are now paying for timed access to books rather than individual content online.

Paid subscription function on WeChat. /VCG Photo

Tencent's WeChat has a mobile WeChat Read function that has steadily grown more and more popular, thanks to its easy access and portability. For readers looking at content on their phones, the most popular content is entertainment and lighter reads.

E-readers boosted by payment trends

With more than half of the Chinese population now accessing the Internet via their smartphones, mobile reading seems to make sense in the country. However, the fact that the device being used is a phone means it is easy for readers to be distracted by messages and other apps.

Another problem is that many readers struggle to get used to using the glossy screens of personal computers (PC) and other devices to read literary classics.

On the other hand, e-readers that aim to provide as similar an experience to paper books as possible are more popular with book lovers. Data from Zhang Yue iReader shows that e-book users have a preference for masterpieces and published works, as opposed to the somewhat low-brow literature available on mobile devices.

The next step for Chinese readers?

After many years of development in digital reading, from PCs to mobile devices, users have grown used to using modern technology to read, meaning the e-book market in China is in a strong position right now.

E-readers showcased at the 2016 Shanghai Book Fair. /VCG Photo

According to the 2016 China digital reading white paper, 60.3 percent of some 300 million Chinese people who read using a digital device said they were willing to pay for good content. It should be noted that the majority of those surveyed were e-reader users rather than mobile-readers. Data from Zhang Yue iReader said that e-book users were 70 percent more likely to pay for content than mobile users.

As digital reading develops, the number of people reading e-books and their time spent reading e-books have all seen year-on-year increases.

In 2016, e-book readers read 3.56 works per capita, compared with 0.73 in 2010. Traditional books were still more popular than their digital counterparts in 2016, with an average of 4.82 paper books read, according to the 2016 China Digital Reading Market Analysis report, based on big data research.

With reading habits changing, Chinese readers are now demanding more professional reading devices with a higher quality reading experience.