All told OverDrive saw 506 million downloads in 2021, mostly in North America, and of course none of these downloads feature in the narrative about how consumer interest in ebooks is stagnating.
Per TNPS reportage, digital library supplier OverDrive topped a half billion ebook and audiobook downloads in 2021 and we now have a list of the library systems that reached the 1 million plus milestone.
Top of the list, again, is Toronto, this time topping 9 million downloads, while Los Angeles shared second place, with 8 million downloads each, with the Singapore National Library. The latter will be helped by the cruel reality that while Amazon has a Singapore operation there is no Kindle or Audible Singapore service.
At the bottom end of the list 22 library systems across 7 countries hit one million downloads for the first time in 2021, including in the UK (two entrants, including one for tiny Northern Ireland – population 1.8 million), Germany, Australia and the Bahamas. New Zealand’s Auckland library system reported over 3 million downloads, while Canada’s Ottawa library system reported over 2 million downloads.
All told OverDrive saw 506 million downloads in 2021, mostly in North America, and of course none of these downloads feature in the narrative about how consumer interest in ebooks is stagnating.
As yet no word on how the 2021 ebook/audiobook sectors compared (awaiting a response from OverDrive on that one, as most years this information has been readily available) and it will be interesting too to see how many titles were in the queue, with eager readers/listeners unable to gain immediate access.
For the record, in 2020 OverDrive’s “only” 430 million downloads broke down as 289 million ebook downloads and 138 million audiobook downloads, with a further 187 million titles on the wait list.
As so often, OverDrive has two posts with complimentary and overlapping data about the latest news. Check them out here and here.
