The sale of e-books is set to overtake that of printed books in the near future, according to a new report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).
By 2018 the consumer e-book market will increase in value almost three-fold, rising from its current total of £380 million to £1 billion.
At the same time, sales of printed books are set to fall by a third, says the report.
PwC added that 50% of the UK population would own an iPad, Kobo, Kindle or similar e-reader device by 2018 and that 15.5 billion apps were expected to be downloaded in the UK in 2018.
Phil Stokes, an entertainment and media partner at PwC, said: “This growth is being driven by the internet and by consumers’ love of new technology, particularly mobile technology.”
Last year’s best-selling e-book on Amazon – which has 79% of the UK market – was Dan Brown’s Inferno.
Stokes added: “The entertainment and media industry is at the forefront of the digital revolution, because so many of its products and services can already be delivered in digital form.
“It may not be long before digital revenues from print, film, publishing and music overtake physical revenues in some markets.”
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