Kadokawa’s official twitter handle for news revealed the results of a survey, that they had carried out, on March 21, 2022. According to the results of this survey, younger fans worldwide preferred to buy much less manga in digital format when compared to its printed counterpart.

Around 60 percent of fans in the age group of 18-24 and more than 75 percentage of fans under the age of seventeen never brought a digital manga volume in a year. On the other hand, these numbers went down to around 25 percent and just over 30 percent respectively, when it came to not buying a paper manga volume.

The percentage of fans in these two age groups who brought atleast 1-5 digital volumes or more of a manga a year were also comparatively lower when compared to the number of printed volumes/manga they purchased.

For instance, close to 20 percent of the fans under the age of 17 purchased atleast 1 to 5 volumes of paper manga in a year. However, this number decreased to under 10 percentage when it came to purchasing digital copies.

When Kadokawa asked fans to share their opinion on the matter, some pitched in touching upon the purchasing power of the younger audience and also the effect of piracy.

“My guess is younger fans are probably reading illegal scans instead of buying digital. I don’t think they see enough value difference nor have heard enough reasons to be convinced to support the industry yet to buy legal digital manga,” one fan wrote explaining why the younger fans shied away from buying digital copies.

Another fan was of the opinion that kids and teenagers might prefer to go for a physical copy as it gave them bragging rights.

“I think if younger fans have the money to buy a manga, they’d rather go with a physical copy since it’s like a bragging right that they could show off and it would look aesthetically good design on a bookshelf.”

Another key takeaway from the survey was that fans over the age of 45 purchased more manga as compared to fans in younger age groups.

100 percent of the readers over 45 who participated in the Kadokawa survey brought atleast 1-5 physical copies of a manga in a year. When it came to owning digital volumes of the manga, more than 90 percentage of the audience who participated in the survey purchased atleast one volume in year.

Kadokawa did not reveal any additional details regarding the survey that they carried out, or the sample audience who had participated in the survey.

Source: Twitter