Laura Carollo
Research expert covering cinema and film
E-books in France - statistics & facts
As of 2022, France was one of the fastest-growing digital publishing markets in Europe after the United Kingdom. In 2022, the total value of e-book revenue in France reached about 130 million euros, and this figure is expected to exceed 150 million euros in 2027. However, despite being a rising market, digital consumption of books has a hard time getting a foothold among French readers who still prefer reading on paper.
Print is hard to shake off
Despite being one the most dynamic European markets, old habits die hard for most French readers, who are reluctant to trade print for digital alternatives. As of 2022, about 80 percent of them read predominantly on paper and only less than ten percent predominantly digitally. The price of e-books is an obstacle, which leads many readers to consume legally free of charge digital books or to access them illegally. Amazon was the go-to platform to purchase e-books, highlighting the difficulties potential digital readers might face when looking for e-books elsewhere; despite coming in second and fifth positions, French groups Fnac and Cultura only accounted for 35 and 19 percent of e-book purchases in France in 2023 respectively.Digital comics and manga
Despite the unprecedented success that manga and comics have experienced over the last few years, the digital arm of this growing market has yet to take off. The attachment of readers to the physical objects and collections, combined with publishers’ concerns regarding piracy, make it a tough sell for potential customers. Still, not having to stock and transport books is one of digital’s advantages, and one proven particularly useful when it comes to longer series. In 2020, over 50 percent of female comic readers between the ages of 16 to 35 read comics online. Manga were consumed digitally by more than half of manga readers older than 16 that same year. Moreover, digital consumers are avid and regular readers; as of 2021, over a quarter of them read online books or comics almost every day. The phenomenon of webtoons, or digital-only comics created for online platforms, is also getting traction in France as a new way of experiencing stories directly via smartphone.
