A new study finds that the most voracious consumers of new media are people who own e-readers. The study, “Hidden Opportunities in New Media,” from L.E.K. Consulting, reports that people who own e-readers consume 18 hours a week of digital media (not just e-books). By contrast, iPod owners – no Luddites – consume nine hours. There are a few other results in this survey that may shake some traditional wisdom:
There’s good news in here for people who like reading. From the release:
“The survey also showed that almost half of e-reader users increased their consumption of books, and more than one-third of their consumption was incremental. This means that many books are being sold that would not have been sold as traditional print books.”
Clearly, e-reader owners are early adopters and would be likely to use new media more. And if my experience is anything to go by, once you get a Kindle (or similar device), you buy a lot of books and then trail off a bit. (If only because it becomes an expensive habit.) Still, it’s an interesting notion that the “E-reader Republic,” as L.E.K. dubs it, is the new “iPod Nation.”
(Disclosure: Scott Montminy, the PR guy on this report, is a former colleague of mine.)