Since its debut in July 2009, Comixology has transformed itself from upstart application to the digital comic book publishing platform, with almost every publisher in partnership. And recently it has surpassed 50 million comic book downloads since its launch, with 5 million of that total in December 2011 alone. CEO David Steinberger told ICv2.com:
Does this mean that digital comics are a threat to print publishing or is it another revenue stream for publishers and the best opportunity to capture the elusive 'new reader'? Steinberger says that a healthy comic book business is good for both print and digital:
“This milestone shows the tremendous demand for digital comics from comiXology and the strength of our partnerships and reach, from device manufacturers to publishers to brick-and-mortar retailers. And it shows the huge opportunities that exist to grow the comics market by bringing in new or lapsed readers that want a digital option for reading comics.”As a semi-comarison to December's downloads, Diamond Distribution reported approximately 6.4 million sales of comics and graphic novels that month. I listed this as a semi-comparison because a significant percentage of Comixology's total are free downloads. So while the comparison might be off we can at least get a sense of scale in those totals.
Does this mean that digital comics are a threat to print publishing or is it another revenue stream for publishers and the best opportunity to capture the elusive 'new reader'? Steinberger says that a healthy comic book business is good for both print and digital:
To read the entire interview with Comixology CEO David Steinberger click THIS LINK.“Our business started by creating tools for consumers and retailers of print comics, and it’s an important part of comiXology. With our Online Pull List service for fans, our free comic store locator system on the Web and in our digital comic apps, where we have a “Buy in Print” button that leads users to their local comic store, and our Comic Store Websites and other services for retailers, we’re the only digital comics company that supports the full ecosystem of comics, from the comic stores to digital sales.ComiXology also offers an innovative Digital Storefront program that allows comic stores to add digital comics to their Websites with an easy integration as we see comic stores as partners in the digital comics business as well as in print comics.”
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