Panorama Project: “Immersive Media & Reading 2020” Consumer Research to Launch in September

The Panorama Project has put out a press release explaining that a consumer survey, undertaken with partner Portland State University, will “help understand how readers discover, access, and consume books in all formats (print, ebook, audiobook)—before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is the whole text. RF looks forward to seeing the results:

CROSS-PUBLISHING INDUSTRY INITIATIVE TO MEASURE ENGAGEMENT AND BUYING BEHAVIORS ACROSS PRINT AND DIGITAL FORMATS—BEFORE AND DURING THE PANDEMIC

The Panorama Project’s Immersive Media & Reading 2020 consumer survey, in partnership with Portland State University, will officially launch in mid-September 2020. The cross-publishing industry research initiative will help understand how readers discover, access, and consume books in all formats (print, ebook, audiobook)—before and during the COVID-19 pandemic—and how that engagement compares to other immersive media, specifically film, TV, and gaming.

"Portland State University is proud to be working with Panorama Project, BISG, the Authors Guild, ALA, IBPA, and PubWest to bring forward this important study that will broaden our collective understanding of book engagement and consumption within the wider media ecosystem,” said Dr. Rachel Noorda, Director of Book Publishing & Assistant Professor at Portland State University (PSU). “Working together with the committee, we have designed a study to address concerns across the book industry, and we are looking forward to analyzing the results."

The survey and methodology were developed by the Panorama Project’s Consumer Research Committee which was chaired by Dr. Noorda, and included representatives from the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), Authors Guild, American Library Association (ALA), Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and PubWest. It will be fielded in two waves (mid-September and late-October), and the data will be analyzed by Dr. Noorda and her colleague, Dr. Kathi Inman Berens, Associate Professor of English and Book Publishing at PSU. The final report will be published by and made publicly available through the Panorama Project in December.

“The ongoing pandemic’s uneven impact on the publishing industry—including authors, bookstores, and libraries—obviously forced us to revamp our approach to this research, and I’m sincerely thankful for each committee member’s invaluable contributions throughout the process,” said Panorama Project lead and committee secretary, Guy LeCharles Gonzalez. “One of Panorama Project’s primary goals is to establish a foundation for cross-industry collaboration that can produce useful and transparent data that can be widely shared and analyzed. The committee’s collective insights and expertise ensured we’ll not only capture useful data this year, but we’ve also established a strong foundation for ongoing and deeper research.”

"Conducting relevant industry research is one of BISG's four primary objectives,” said Brian O'Leary, Executive Director, BISG. “The industry needs a longitudinal study of how consumers view books in the broader media landscape, and Portland State is well-positioned to conduct this survey and interpret the data coming from it."

In addition to aligning engagement with books to other immersive media, another key goal of Immersive Media & Reading 2020 is to understand public libraries' role in the discovery, consumption, and purchasing behaviors of readers who use libraries for more than just books.

"There is a paucity of data about how libraries operate within and positively influence the larger media ecosystem—which includes ebooks but also other media,” said Alan S. Inouye, Senior Director, Public Policy & Government Relations, ALA. “The collection and analysis of such data is a challenging endeavor, as longitudinal data are needed to answer many of the most important questions. ALA thanks the Panorama Project for undertaking this ambitious and needed study."

Funding for Immersive Media & Reading 2020 was generously provided by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), American Library Association (ALA), Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and OverDrive.

For more information on the Consumer Research Committee and the research methodology, please visit panoramaproject.org/immersive-media-reading-2020.