The income derived from the subscription platforms of e-books, audiobooks Y podcasts operating in Spain, such as Audible, Nubico, Storytel or Podimo, have grown by 145% in 2020 compared to the previous year, thanks in part to the ‘push’ that the lockdown by pandemic, according to data from the 2021 Digital Culture Yearbook prepared by Acción Cultural Española.
The Yearbook reflects the impact the internet is having on the Spanish society, including a part of essays in which professionals and specialists analyze how different areas of culture (visual arts, cinema, music, performing arts, books and heritage) have been implemented digital technologies to face the “new reality” that has emerged after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Digital content
Another of the data collected in this document is that more than 125,000 Spaniards registered in the public digital loan platforms available in Spain (eBiblio and eLiburutegia) during 2020.
In the worst months of the lockdown, these two platforms carried out more than one million digital content loans, multiplying by four the digital consumption compared to the previous year.
In addition, mention is also made of the platforms, which increased their turnover: thus, while Netflix It “swept away” its growth targets in 2020, achieving 16 million new subscribers -almost double the expected-, the users of the platform of the movie are watching over 100,000 movies a day in 2021, the double views than in 2020.
Digital readers
“Digital e-book readers are large consumers, with an average of 12.8 readings per year, more than double the reading rates for paper books, which stands at 9.7 books a year, according to the latest study by the Federation of Publishers Guilds of Spain “, collects the conclusions of the text.
Although 2020 was a “year of accelerations“The director of the yearbook, Javier Celaya, does not consider that this” in any case means a change of course, but rather the deepening of multiple digital processes that were already underway. “
Over the last few years “we have seen a gradual, but uneven process of digital adaptation of the cultural sector. We could think that the sector was in good health, but the arrival of the pandemic It has shown us that the weaknesses were many and profound, “adds Celaya.
Among the “lessons” that could be drawn from this pandemic situation for the digital sectorThere is the fact that the structure and navigation of many websites in the cultural sector “does not facilitate the discovery or consumption of their content.”
Digital: to stay
After the pandemic year, “the sector recognizes that digital is here to stay and that from now on it has to bet on the consumption of digital content as a priority. The improvisation capacity and the effort invested by most of the cultural entities to remain connected with the public, but it should not be an installed value, because it permanently leads to chaos, “concludes Celaya.
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