How well do you know Canadian book consumers?

We’re back with another instalment of our Get to know Canadian book consumers series to get you acquainted. In this series, we break down book buying, borrowing, and reading habits by age group, to give you the most up-to-date data from both our consumer surveys — the Canadian Book Consumer Study 2022 and our newly released Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2022.

Last month, we got to know Canadian book consumers ages 18–29. This time around, we’re taking a look at another age group — Canadian book consumers ages 30–44.

Canadian book consumers in 2022: Ages 30 to 44 infographic.

They’re reading with young readers

Results from the Canadian Book Consumer Study 2022 show that Canadian book buyers ages 30–44 were the most likely to buy children’s books, at 18%. It follows that these book buyers were also the most likely to be buying books for:

a young child aged 0–3 — 22%;
a young child aged 4–7 — 17%; or
a middle grade child aged 8–12 — 28%.

At the library, Canadian book consumers ages 30-44 were also the most likely to borrow books from the library for:

a young child aged 0–3 — 5%;
a young child aged 4–7 — 10%; or
a middle grade child aged 8–12 — 15%.

They’re also the most likely to attend a story hour/children’s programs (8%) or to get a library card for themselves/someone else (13%).

How do Canadian book consumers ages 30–44 find books at the library? More than any other age group, these book borrowers were the most likely to find a book by:

browsing genre/subject area — 48%;
searching specifically for a book — 41%;
searching for a different book — 24%;
recommendation/review — 21%; and
having read the book before — 15%.

Canadian book consumers ages 30–44 were also the most likely to have read all or part of a book aloud to another person (a child, young adult, or adult) last year (20%) as reported in the Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2022.

They’re listeners

Data from both our consumer surveys show that Canadian book consumers ages 30–44 are big fans of audiobooks.

In the Canadian Book Consumer Study 2022, we found that book buyers ages 30–44 were the most likely to buy audiobooks, at 8%. Canadian book consumers ages 30–44 were also the most likely to borrow audiobooks, at 23%.

And according to the new Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2022, Canadian audiobook listeners ages 30-44 were the most likely to:

feel that they get good value for audiobooks at the price they pay — 100%;
prefer listening to a human narrator over synthetic (AI) narration — 99%;
listen to audiobooks while doing other things — 95%;
search for specific narrators when looking for audiobooks to listen to — 86%; and
listen to an audiobook while following along in a physical/print book or ebook — 84%.

Audiobook listeners ages 30-44 were also the most likely to prefer audiobooks with sound effects and/or music; delete the audiobook from their personal library after they finish listening to it; and stop listening to an audiobook because of the sound of the narrator's voice, at 83% each.

But what are they listening — or reading — to?

Across both our consumer studies and all book formats, Canadian book consumers ages 30–44 were most likely to be buying, borrowing, reading, or listening to Mystery or Science Fiction titles for Fiction, or History or Biography and Autobiography titles for Non-Fiction.

They’re eco-conscious

Out of all ages groups, Canadian book consumers ages 30–44 are the most eco-conscious.

In our recent Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2022, we discovered that Canadian readers ages 30–44 were the most likely to agree with the statements:

I donate or give away a print book after I finish reading it — 81%; and
I want books to be made from sustainably-sourced paper — 79%.

Canadian readers ages 30–44 were also the most likely to share their ebook or audiobook subscriptions with other people, at 51% and 68% respectively.

These book consumers were also the most likely to borrow other resources from the library, apart from books— like DVDs, movies, magazines, CDs, and music — according to the Canadian Book Consumer Study 2022.

What are other Canadian book consumer like?

Stay tuned for more instalments of this blog series here and sign up for the research newsletter so you’re always in the know.