As part of the GenPop Q&A with Tom Vanderbilt, GenPop gives the subject the chance to #AskYouAnything, which we field on the Ipsos Omnibus. Vanderbilt wanted to know about Americans’ book-reading habits.
GenPop: Women and Millennials were slightly more likely to say they love books. But mostly there was a high level of book-reading across demographics. Interestingly, Millennials have a hard time finding books, which with all our discussion of recommendation engines in our Q&A seems counter-intuitive.
Vanderbilt: I was wondering if there’s a dearth of authors that they think speak to their concerns or tastes. I’m not sure if that’s the case or not. The book-side of [recommendation engines] is a little less developed. There’s GoodReads.com and Amazon [which actually owns GoodReads now – ed] but in some ways there hasn’t been as much effort put into the optimization of books as there has been music and movies for whatever market reasons. Or the idea that books might seem more personal or a less up-to-date industry. Is this an online survey?
GenPop: Yes.
Vanderbilt: So the people taking this survey are already reading something. I mean it’s Web vs. book but it’s interesting. If you pulled over people on i-90 and asked them these questions…
GenPop: That would lead to a lot of “Traffic.” The overall high level of love is likely a good sign for authors, right?
Vanderbilt: Books are one of those things that grow with you. There’s things that are different for different ages and then there are universal things. I guess there might be some products or experiences like concert going … I can personally report that it drops off the older you get. But books can be enjoyed by everyone. Yeah, that’s good news for authors, I guess.
See the full topline results at Ipsos.com.