Online literature drives reading boom

The number of digital reading users in China reached 670 million last year, marking a 17.52 percent year-on-year increase, according to a report released on Wednesday in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

"This growth can be attributed to the rapid increase in users closely related to intellectual property derivatives and peripheral services within the online literature industry," said Zhang Yijun, first vice-chairman of the China Audio-Video Digital Publishing Association.

"Over the past five years, China has seen an accumulated increase of 176 million digital reading users, representing a significant growth rate of 35.63 percent. This trend indicates that digital reading is becoming a primary means for Chinese netizens to acquire knowledge and inspiration in their daily lives," he added.

The 2024 China Digital Reading Report was released at a national reading conference that kicked off in Taiyuan, coinciding with the 30th World Book and Copyright Day on Wednesday.

It showed that the number of digital reading works in the country is approximately 63 million, which represents a 6.31 percent rise compared to the previous year.

Among these works, online literature and e-books accounted for approximately 67.55 percent, while audio reading materials comprised about 32.45 percent.

The Chinese reading market revenue in 2024 was reported to be 66 billion yuan, an increase of 16 percent from the previous year.

The report also highlighted growth in three primary sectors of the digital publishing industry for 2024: mass reading, audio reading and academic reading, which generated revenues exceeding 48.8 billion yuan, 12.4 billion yuan and 4.9 billion yuan, respectively.

Furthermore, the number of Chinese digital reading works that went global — including translations, international originals and e-books — reached 808,400, representing a year-on-year increase of 6 percent.