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Government data shows that book readership among Koreans is hitting new lows. / Korea Times |
By Kim Tong-hyung
Koreans don't read books and don't read newspapers. They flock to the movies, however.
A report from Statistics Korea Monday showed that book consumption — measured by the sales of hardcovers, paperbacks and magazines — hit a new low last year with the average spending of households sinking below 20,000 won (about $18.44). Add to this the sorry state of the newspaper industry, and the future of the dead-tree media has never been bleaker.
New books released by publishers decreased by a staggering 20 percent in 2012. The online purchases of books pulled back for the first time since the statistics agency started keeping track of electronic commerce activity in 2001.
The 19,026 won households spent on books per month last year represented a 7.5 percent drop for the previous year and a 28 percent decline from the 26,346 won measured in 2003, when the publishing industry was at its peak.
According to separate data from the Korean Publishers Association (KPA), publishers introduced 39,767 new books last year and printed and published 86.97 million copies. It was the first time since 2000 that less than 100 million copies of new books were published over a full year.
The bad economy and steady decline in readership are clearly taking their toll on publishers.
"The situation for the publishing market is now at its worst," said Han Ki-ho, head of the Korean Publishing Market Research Institute.
"The number of bookstores was counted at 5,683 in 1994, but reduced to 2,247 in 2003 and 1,752 in 2011, representing a 22 percent decline during that period. While the decline in offline stores had been accompanied by an increase in the books bought through Internet retailers, the revenue of online bookstores declined for the first time last year as well. The lack of discussions toward introducing a fixed-price book system is also eating into the finances of publishers."
While revenue at online book stores expanded annually by around 50 to 60 percent in the early 2000s, the pace of growth slowed to 18.6 percent in 2007 and 9 percent in 2011 before posting a contraction last year.
Technology companies have been prating ad nauseam about how their electronic book readers and touch-screen tablets will save the publishing industry and relieve traveling booklovers from excess baggage. However, a paucity of consumer excitement and the lack of a content ecosystem for e-books suggest the nascent market has a long way to go before becoming relevant.
As Koreans continue to move away quickly from books, many are instead heading for movie theaters, which represent a rare industry that is benefiting from the downturn.
The Korean film industry is coming off a record year in 2012 when it sold nearly 200 million tickets and the pace of growth has picked up further at the start of 2013.
The number of moviegoers measured at theaters across the nation reached 23.6 million in January, up by more than 22 percent on-year. More than 18 million tickets were sold in February, 5 million more than the 13 million in the same month of last year.
Korean films such as "Miracle from Cell No. 7," which is nearing the 12 million viewer mark, and "The Berlin File" have been driving the market boom.
It could be argued that the popularity of movies has been accelerated by the bad economy. Consumers, reeling from stagnant incomes and higher living costs, are looking for cheaper ways to spend their leisure time and it's difficult to beat spending 10,000 won for popcorn, soda and two hours of entertainment.
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