The Brazilian eBook Market Grew by 350% in 2012
New estimates from the Câmara Brasileira do Livro show that the Brazilian ebook market saw stellar growth in 2012. Their research revealed that over 4 times as many ebooks were sold in Brazil in 2012 as in 2011.
But that doesn’t really matter much because ebooks were still less than 1% of the overall Brazilian book market. While that is obviously a minuscule figure, the other details from CBL are much more interesting.
CBL’s research also included a survey of Brazilian publishers which showed that 68% sell ebooks, and that 59% are still unsure as to what format they should be selling. Of the total who answered the question, 70% reported selling DRMed ebooks. As for distribution, 52.4% of use digital distributors and 58.7% use other sales channels.
Most of the publishers also reported that ebook revenues were negligible, with 54% saying that their digital revenues were less than 1%. That provides a contrast for the 10% of publishers who reported that ebook revenues accounted for over half of total revenue.
It’s not clear from my sources, but I suspect that the 1% market share is based on a survey of publishers and not market research. There is also no information on which ebookstore had what share of the market in 2012.
Amazon, Apple, Google, and Kobo all launched a local ebookstore in Brazil very late in 2012, so local competitors like Gato Sabido, Saraiva, BajaLibros, and Librara Cultura (now Kobo’s local partner) probably dominated the market.
Brazil has a population of around 200 million, most of whom speak Brazilian Portuguese.
image by F H Mira
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