It is clearly the season for reading surveys. Indeed, this story comes so hot on the heels of the reading habits survey that I had to check it wasn’t a different angle on the same survey. But no, this time we have a survey from HarperCollins and the book data people at Nielsen. They carried out a survey not about the habits of those who read to themselves but about how parents read—or don’t—to their children. The focus: parents reading to children, and how that behavior is changing.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
Parents Reading Less to Young Children
The main finding is that people are reading less to their children than they did a decade ago. The number reading to zero- to four-year-olds has fallen from 64 percent to 41 percent since 2012.
There are some more interesting figures. Only 40 percent of parents find reading to their children fun, and only a few more (44 percent) find it bonds them with their children. When it comes to zero- to two-year-olds, more girls (44 percent) than boys (29 percent) are read to every day.
And to tie these figures in with the previous survey, the motives and commentary are interesting. In the same period during which reading frequency fell from 64 percent to 41 percent, the number citing homework as the reason there was not enough time to read to their children rose from 29 percent to 44 percent.
Spotlight on AudioNext and Spotify
Which brings me to one of the ways we imagine more children—and others—reading: audiobooks. Tuesday next week sees the AudioNext conference, and the lineup looks very interesting. The day kicks off with a keynote from ElevenLabs, the AI-generated voice company. And not just anyone from ElevenLabs, but their head of “IP partnerships.”
That feels like a tantalizing one to be a fly on the wall for. Following on immediately will be a discussion of the way streaming is changing the future of the audiobook industry.
Which is perfect timing for the announcement that Spotify has declared it paid $100 million to podcasters in the first quarter of this year. AudioNext is free to register for here. I will be there for as much as I can and report back.
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