Our 2025 roundup post explored the ups and downs of the UK print book market in the latest year, but in this digital age, that’s only part of the story, with e-books and audiobooks making up about a third of overall book purchases, according to the results of our monthly Books & Consumers survey. Steve Bohme will reveal the full-year results for the print and digital book markets at the UK Book Consumer presentation on 26 March, along with delving into who was buying more books in 2025 and how they were finding and buying those books, but let’s see how things are looking as of November.
Overall book purchases were down about 2% in January to November 2025 vs 2024, although within that, audiobooks posted growth, with the format projected to hit its highest level on record once again. The continued audiobook growth is stemming from both male and female consumers, across younger and older segments, but the types of audiobooks being bought more vary by group. Male and female consumers both under and over 45 were buying more fiction audiobooks in 2025 but with a more significant increase coming from male consumers, while women under 45 increased their non-fiction audiobook consumption. For children’s & YA audiobooks, women aged 45+ contributed the largest boost, with more minor increases for other groups.
Countering the female consumers in this age range, men under 45 were buying fewer non-fiction audiobooks in 2025, with signs of their interests shifting to other formats and sectors. Their purchases of print books across fiction, non-fiction and children’s & YA, as well as e-books for fiction and non-fiction, all increased, in most cases the only broad group to be buying more, with the difference in purchases year-on-year for each sector shown in the graph below. Despite these shifts, women aged 13-44 remain the most prominent group, at 35% of overall book purchases in 2025, followed by 27% for their male counterparts, who are still the largest non-fiction consumers.
Getting into more specifics, crime & thriller reigns as the nation’s favourite genre and as the top category for consumers aged 45+. It’s still the top fiction genre for under 45s as well, but across all sectors is surpassed by books for the youngest of readers (encompassing early learning, picture books and activity books) and by self-help/popular psychology for men under 45, with similarities and differences across the broad groups highlighted below. Male 45-84s favour auto/biographies and history & military more than other groups, while female consumers in that age band have historical fiction among their top genres. Despite the surge in ‘romantasy’ in recent years, fantasy ranks further down the list for women aged 13-44, with romance higher up, while fantasy does make the top genres for older male book buyers.
Across these featured genres, overall purchases to November had increased for pre-school & activity books, general fiction, fantasy and self-help/popular psychology, although of course there are many other areas of the market to be explored. For a more in-depth presentation, join us for The UK Book Consumer 2025 on 26 March 2026, either in person at the London Transport Museum or virtually from wherever you may be. Contact infobookresearch@nielseniq.com to book your place!
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