Young people don’t like to read, and neither “Kuangbiao” nor short videos can influence them

Young people today seem to be less and less interested in reading. How will the traditional book industry develop in the era of short videos? This article uses data and surveys from various aspects to analyze the current status of the traditional book industry. From the popularity of "Storm" to "The Art of War", it also reflects on the current state of book retail. It is suitable for those who are interested in platforms and book retail.

"Read "The Art of War" and appreciate Qi Qiang's life." The TV series "Kuang Biu" was a hit on the screen, and it also led to Gao Qi Qiang's books being sold out on multiple platforms. Even Qiangsheng Group, which has the same name as the company in the play, has added "The Art of War" to its Douyin showcase.

However, the popularity of TV dramas often comes and goes, and it is difficult to continue to boost book sales. In contrast, short videos are a more powerful "handsome guy" with more tentacles.

Putting aside other things, just the Dongfang Zhenxuan anchor Dong Yuhui, who attracted widespread attention in 2022, has made people see the huge potential of short videos to enter the book retail market.

According to media reports, in June 2022, Dong Yuhui recommended the work "The Right Bank of the Ergun River" by writer Chi Zijian in the live broadcast room. In just 4 months, about 710,000 copies were sold, with sales of over 10 million yuan. You know, this is the total sales of the work in 17 years after its first edition in 2005.

It's not just Dong Yuhui, short videos as a whole are also quite strong. According to the "2022 Book Retail Market Annual Report" released by Beijing Kaijuan on January 6, while the sales of books in physical stores and platform e-commerce have declined significantly, short video e-commerce has "emerged as a dark horse", up 42.86% year-on-year.

The question is, can short videos, which are so powerful, really motivate you to read?

1. Traffic dividend

When short videos and reading are linked together, many people may frown and think: "Everyone is watching short videos, who still has time to read?"

In the minds of netizens who have the above ideas, watching short videos and reading seem to be a contradiction, but in real life, short videos are not to blame for reading less.

According to the "2022 White-collar Reading Behavior Survey Report" released by Zhilian Research Institute, 76.6% of white-collar workers think they have less time to read; as for the reason for having less time to read, 61.1% of the white-collar workers interviewed believed that it was due to busy work, 50.9% of the white-collar workers believed that they were busy with family chores and social activities, and only 14.5% of the white-collar workers felt that short videos took up their reading time.

Based on this, Zhilian Research Institute proposed that "this means that short videos are not the main reason why white-collar workers do not read books." Not only white-collar workers, New Retail Business Review believes that if the scope of analysis is expanded to more groups, short videos will also be difficult to determine as the main reason why a certain group does not read books. As the content channel with the largest traffic at present, short videos will attract people to buy and read books.

Regarding this point, Li Sihui, a special researcher at the News Commentary Research Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said that from a positive perspective, short videos about reading "can stimulate the public's interest in reading to a certain extent and guide more people to open good books."

In Li Sihui's view, short videos about reading have at least two functions: "First, they recommend good books, saving many people from the difficulty of choosing; second, they stimulate the public's interest in reading by sharing reading experiences and guide more people to read."

These "effects" of short videos about reading have gradually made selling books through short videos a social trend after being promoted, fermented and expanded by short video platforms. Publishing organizations, education and training companies, maternal and child anchors, knowledge bloggers, etc. have all entered the market and vigorously taken on the demand for book retail.

After Dong Yuhui and Dongfang Zhenxuan became "top streamers", his boss, Yu Minhong, once said on his personal public account: "After Dongfang Zhenxuan became popular, book sales became a major business. Any writer who came to be a guest interview could sell tens of thousands of copies of his book. Dongfang Zhenxuan soon became a platform that sold more books than any bookstore."

In addition to Dong Yuhui, Fan Deng is also a "big boss" in the book sales circle. According to the media, at a time when many people do not read books, Fan Deng earns 1 billion yuan a year by helping others read books.

From the perspective of the platform, the momentum of short video book sales is even more amazing. The "2022 Douyin E-commerce Book Consumption Data Report" shows that in the past year, Douyin e-commerce sold 250 million books, and the mall channel drove the book GMV to grow by 315% year-on-year. Publishing institutions such as Motie, Classroom Inside and Outside, Yimubaohe, People's Literature Publishing House, and Huaban Books have seen rapid growth in sales.

On Kuaishou, from January to October 2022, the GMV of the book and entertainment industry increased by 77% year-on-year, among which the GMV of inspirational and success books increased by 72% year-on-year, the GMV of textbooks and teaching aids increased by 150% year-on-year, and the GMV of literary novels increased by 307% year-on-year.

It is obvious that in traffic-rich platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, selling books through short videos has become a win-win situation. Whether it is publishing organizations, anchors, or platforms, they have all reaped the benefits of traffic in their own way.

However, the traffic dividend is only a "cross-section". The short video platform also has its own attributes. The "big market" of the entire book retail market is even more complex and changeable, and the situation is far from optimistic.

2. The biggest change

Faced with the powerful traffic dividend of short video platforms, Dangdang.com, whose main business is book sales, performed the most typical.

On the one hand, Dangdang.com has opened stores on Douyin and Kuaishou. On the other hand, it recently signed a cooperation agreement with JD Books, and Dangdang's official flagship store will be fully launched on JD.com.

Regarding Dangdang.com’s partnership with JD Books, a CEO of a book-related industry said, “As a vertical e-commerce company, we have felt the direct pressure from live streaming e-commerce, traffic loss, and declining performance, so we naturally thought of joining forces. JD Books and Dangdang have been working hard in the market, and they feel the market directly and sensitively, so the response was natural.”

It is worth noting that this is not only a "traffic war", but also a multiple melee. According to the analysis of China Publishing and Media Business Daily, as the main force of the "price war" in the past book e-commerce, platform e-commerce has now had to start a "price war + traffic war" after the short video platform joined the "battle".

The result of the "battle" was described by China Publishing and Media Business Daily as "the online book market is undergoing the biggest change since its inception."

This is indeed the reality. Data from Beijing Kaijuan shows that the book retail market in 2022 fell by 11.77% year-on-year compared with 2021. Specifically in the online book market, in the first quarter of 2022, the year-on-year growth rate of the online store channel was -8.34%. This is the first time that Kaijuan has monitored negative growth in this channel since it introduced the year-on-year growth rate of the online store channel in 2015.

Beijing Kaijuan believes that the reason is that "the epidemic has suppressed the public's willingness to consume to a certain extent." This is not difficult to understand. In the three years since the epidemic, overall consumption has shown a weak trend, and books are non-essential consumption, so the situation they face is particularly severe.

According to the sales data based on the "National Public Publishing Information Public Service Platform" and the offline ERP data and online monitoring data of the "China Publishing Market Monitoring System" of Business Daily and Oshi, the sales volume of the book retail market in 2022 decreased by 18.50% year-on-year, and the sales code (referring to the total price of all books) decreased by 9.21% year-on-year, and the overall market size was about 92.3 billion yuan. Among them, the sales volume of the offline market decreased by 18.66% year-on-year, and the sales code decreased by 8.45% year-on-year; the sales volume of the online market decreased by 18.35% year-on-year, and the sales code decreased by 9.58% year-on-year.

The number and sales value of books sold online and offline have declined significantly. Only the book sales on short video platforms have achieved positive growth . No wonder it is regarded as "a rising star that is particularly attractive."

However, from the perspective of netizens or readers, the "characteristics" of short video platforms cannot be ignored. As we have felt, due to the attributes of short video platforms, most of the short reading videos, including those by Dong Yuhui, Fan Deng, etc., highlight topics and emotions in order to guide people to buy books in the shortest possible time. However , whether the books bought amid topics and emotions are read is really a question mark.

For example, the TV series "The Way of Heaven" starring Wang Zhiwen swept short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou due to its massive video slices, and promoted the hot sales of the original work "The Faraway Savior" published in 2008.

According to the "TOP 100 Best-selling Books of All Categories in 2022" released by China Publishing and Media Business Daily, the book ranked 32nd, ranking higher than "To Live", "The Three-Body Problem", "One Hundred Years of Solitude", "Ordinary World" and others.

Image source: China Publishing and Media Business Daily

Even so, New Retail Business Review asked friends around and learned that some friends watched the video clip of "The Way of Heaven" and bought "The Faraway Savior", but it has been almost two years and they have never read it, let alone read it seriously. And this is not an isolated case, but a common situation.

Back to the beginning, the netizens who were excited after watching "Storm" bought "The Art of War", but how many people would calm down and "study" the art of war?

3. The Hardest Part

Buying books from short video platforms, reading them or not, cannot erase the advantages of short videos in reaching consumers more widely and facilitating transactions more efficiently. In fact, in the midst of a downturn, the fact that short video book sales can become a "bright spot" in the industry is the most convincing evidence.

As an emerging channel, although short video book sales have performed well, traditional channels including platform e-commerce still occupy the "mainstream" position.

Data shows that platform e-commerce has the highest share of sales volume, exceeding 40%. Short video e-commerce is accelerating its competition, and its share has surpassed that of physical store retail, but its current market share is only 18%.

In this context, short videos need to sell books more effectively, which requires the joint efforts of platforms, publishing institutions, anchors, etc. to provide netizens with a greater sense of participation, gain, and value when buying books, reading, and communicating. Among them, the value of private domains has attracted much attention in the industry in recent years.

Take "The Bottom Line Logic: Seeing the World's Bottom Line" written by business consultant Liu Run as an example. The book became popular first of all because Liu Run himself is a big V. After the book was published, it quickly attracted attention among fan groups and business and financial circles.

Secondly, Liu Run cooperated with the "top streamer" Dongfang Zhenxuan. Talking about this, he said: "In Mr. Yu's (referring to Yu Minhong) live broadcast room, he sold more than 100,000 copies by himself, which is amazing."

Image source: Oriental Selection Live Room

In the above-mentioned "Top 100 Best-selling Books of All Categories in 2022", Liu Run's book ranked 63rd. When commenting on it, China Publishing and Media Business Daily did not forget to state: "This book is strongly recommended by Oriental Selection."

After sorting out, it is not difficult to find that the private domain has laid a solid foundation for the explosion of books, and then through the traffic blessing of short videos, it can reach more consumers. At the same time, the private domain traffic of short videos itself will continue to be converted into sales.

The same "results" also appeared in the field of children's books. Data shows that in the sales structure of the online book retail market in 2022, children's books accounted for the largest share, accounting for 26.78%. Behind this, private channels such as parent groups, picture book libraries, and anchor fan groups are quietly exerting their "power".

For the majority of netizens, private domains and short videos are both places to discover good books, exchange reading experiences, and engage in reading "collisions", but reading is highly autonomous and not as easy as it seems.

As Li Sihui said, "Reading can certainly be fun, storytelling, and relaxing, but it can also be profound, thoughtful, and difficult. This requires one to calm down, be patient, study carefully, and think hard."

The key is that "calming down, being patient, studying seriously, and thinking hard" is precisely the most difficult part. At this time, can popular TV series and short video content such as "Kuangbi" help you get rid of the "fog" of topics and emotions and "face up to the challenge"?

Everyone can give their own answer to this question, but as far as the book retail market is concerned, the decline in online and offline sales is like a "silent answer": if you don't want to read and don't like reading, no one can lead you.

References:

1. "Book Retail Market Size Falls Below 100 Billion Yuan", China Publishing and Media Business Daily

2. "Data reveals: How big is the impact of short videos on reading?", Zhilian Research Institute

3. "Book short video e-commerce grew by more than 40%, New Oriental and TAL both tasted the sweetness of live streaming book sales", Jiemian News

4. "What is the underlying logic behind the cooperation between e-commerce book giants?", China Publishing and Media Business News

5. “Can short reading videos lead to book reading?” Guangming Daily

Author: Xiangma; Editor: Ge Weiwei

Source: WeChat public account "New Retail Business Review" (ID: xinlingshou1001)