Scribd Perks: A premium content bundle

It’s no secret that content consumption is at an all time high. But, what exactly are people consuming? We know people are streaming, listening to more music, virtually working out and taking online courses, but what about reading?

Reading subscription service Scribd pulled brand new data revealing a mass increase in digital reading since shelter-in-place mandates were set in the majority of states. They were also able to take a look at what exactly people are reading while in quarantine.

Trip Adler talks about his passion for developing Scribd, "I started Scribd in 2007 as the world’s first open publishing platform. My father is a doctor and he was looking for an easy way to publish a medical paper online, so we created a platform to easily upload and share content on the web. In 2013, we started working with publishers to make their ebooks available on the site and introduced the world’s first reading subscription service. Today Scribd has over one million subscribers and we have a robust catalog that has over a million premium ebook and audio book titles. As we continue to grow, we are constantly looking for ways to connect people with content they love to make Scribd a part of people's daily lives."

Since the week of March 16, when the majority of the US and many other countries adopted social distancing practices, Scribd has seen the following trends:

• Downloads of ebooks has increased by 30%
• The average number of hours that subscribers read per day increased by 12%
  • Scribd readers across the globe spent over 600,000 hours reading e-books and audio books the first week of shelter in place
• Sign-ups the week of March 16 increased by more than 12X in the U.S., compared to the week prior

Scribd user data also uncovered trends shedding light on exactly what consumers are reading during quarantine - pointing to consumer mindset in the context of a pending recession.

Quarantine trends | March 16th to date:

• For a list of TOP BOOKS BY STATE during quarantine, please click HERE.
• Top Genres in the US
  • Fiction – the top read genre in the US. 34% of states have fiction as their most-read genre. Out of those, the most widely read sub-genre is a tie between crime/mystery and romance (35% each).
    • Contemporary Romance: Arkansas, Washington D.C., Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wisconsin
    • Mystery, Thriller, Crime: Massachusetts, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Minnesota, Oregon
      • Fewer people are reading mystery and crime novels now vs. pre-quarantine. Pre-quarantine, the Mystery Thriller, and Crime was the top genre in 24% of states vs. only 12% while in quarantine.
    • Historical: Montana, Alaska
    • Literary: Idaho, Maine
      • Fewer people are reading classic lit. now vs. pre-quarantine. Pre-quarantine, Literary Fiction was the top genre for 18% of states vs just 4% while in quarantine.
    • Contemporary: New Jersey
  • Biography & Memoir – 18% of states have biography & memoir as their most-read genre.
    • Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, New Hampshire, South Carolina, West Virginia
  • Personal Growth –18% of states have Personal growth as their most-read genre.
    • Arizona, California, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Utah, Washington
  • Children’s & YA –16% of states have Children’s and YA as their most-read genre, compared to only 2% in November 2019.
    • Florida, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Tennessee
  • Psychology - 12% of states have Psychology as their most-read genre
    • Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Vermont
      • More people are reading Psychology books now vs. pre-quarantine. Pre-quarantine, Psychology was a top genre for just 4% of states in the US vs 12% while in quarantine.
  • Society –only 4% of states have Society as their most-read genre
    • Connecticut, Louisiana
• Additionally, downloads of children and young adult books have increased by 67%.

Scribd Perks:

This week, reading subscription service, Scribd has launched “Scribd Perks”, a premium content bundle that will include everything from books and educational tools to movies and music- all included in the $9.99 monthly Scribd subscription fee (a savings of over $30 per month).

Scribd Perks will include access to:

• Pandora: Streaming Music & Podcasts
  • A leading music and podcast discovery platform, providing a highly-personalized listening experience to millions of users each month. Create ad-free personalized stations from your favorite songs, artists, or genres that speak to you.
• Farfaria: Read Aloud Story Books for Kids
  • A reading app that offers thousands of illustrated books for children ages 1-9. With unlimited access to a curated library and new titles published every week, FarFaria keeps kids engaged and learning.
• Peak: Brain Games & Training
  • The number one brain training app with over 50 million users across the world. Through Peak, you can push your cognitive skills, train harder and use your time better with fun, stimulating games and workouts.
• MUBI: Curated Cinema
  • A curated streaming service that offers an ever-changing collection of hand-picked films. Watch cult, classic, independent, and award-winning films from around the world. Beautiful, interesting, incredible movies — a new one, every single day.
• TuneIn: Live Sports, News, Music & Podcasts
  • TuneIn brings together live sports, music, news, podcasts and AM & FM radio from around the world in one free app. Featuring the world’s largest library of live, on-demand and original audio at your fingertips, hear what matters most to you, discover new moments that move you.
• CuriousityStream: Mind-Expanding Documentaries
  • Explore your passions, discover new ones, or just indulge your inner geek with thousands of original and hand-selected series, specials and shorts covering space, art, volcanoes, history, travel, cars, architecture, dinosaurs and so much more.
• CONtv + Comics: Cartoons, Movies & More
  • Discover unprecedented access to CONtv’s live programming and growing roster of enigmatic and eclectic pop culture movies and television series, as well as thousands of digital comic books from top publishers such as IDW, Valiant, and Dynamite Entertainment, among others.