In 2023, publishing company Penguin Random House generated revenue of over **** billion euros, up from just over *** billion in the previous year. The publisher was fully acquired by the Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA in 2019.

In 2023, 58.3 percent of Penguin Random House's revenue was generated in the United States, up from 57 percent the previous year. The share of revenue coming from the United Kingdom decreased slightly, as well as the figure for European countries other than the UK, Germany, and France, which tends to bring in less than nine percent of the company's total revenue each year.

The eCommerce activity of Penguin Random House, LLC amounted to US$4m in 2024. Learn more about their online business including detailed eCommerce revenue analytics.

The Book Publishing industry has undergone significant shifts driven by the digitization wave, changing consumer preferences and economic disruptions. As industry enterprises resumed production in 2021 following the adverse influence of the pandemic, sales have rebounded, temporarily buoying the industry. However, the industry remains pressured, with pent-up demand for books having largely been satisfied as of 2021, while continued rising prices of paper, a major input, have made production costs for books more expensive, resulting in higher prices hurting industry demand. Publishers have pivoted towards digital platforms, employing innovative strategies to monetize content, such as subscription-based models and leveraging social media for marketing. Industry revenue is expected to climb at a CAGR of 0.6% to $45.7 billion through the end of 2025, including an estimated 1.2% jump in 2025 alone, as profit shrinks to 5.6% of revenue. The industry has witnessed fluctuating fortunes. While print sales initially suffered during the pandemic, they rebounded strongly in 2021 as consumers returned to bookstores. Notably, the independent bookstore scene has thrived, driven by a renewed consumer preference for tactile book-buying experiences. The emergence of industry alternatives, such as audiobooks and self-publishing models, has driven publishers to explore direct-to-consumer sales, social media marketing opportunities and investments in online and education retail market presences. Larger publishers have resorted to strategic consolidations to maintain their market positions, yet these moves have raised alarm bells about market concentration and its impact on smaller players. Layoffs and restructurings at major companies, such as Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, underscore the broader challenges and adjustments within the industry. Moving forward, the industry is expected to show signs of stabilization despite turbulence experienced by the rise of e-books. While digital consumption continues to trend, traditional publishers must contend with the complexities of content monetization in an evolving market landscape. The resurgence of self-publishing and the blurring lines between traditional and hybrid publishing models offer authors multiple avenues but erode traditional publishing houses' control. With the price of paper, an essential input, continuing to swell, industry profitability will be pressured. Through the end of 2030, industry revenue is poised to modestly rise, exhibiting growth of 0.8% to $47.7 billion.

The online revenue of penguinrandomhouse.com amounted to US$4.3m in 2024. Discover eCommerce insights, including sales development, shopping cart size, and many more.

Despite the rise in digital alternatives, parents still value children's books, which has enabled the industry to succeed amid strong external competition. Furthermore, the rise of blockbuster book series and the success of British children's book authors, like David Walliams, have created favourable demand conditions, with revenue estimated to grow at a compound annual rate of 1.9% in 2024-25 to reach £868.1 million. The market for children's books has expanded as e-readers and other popular devices, like tablets and smartphones, have made books easier to purchase, read and store. Revenue tanked in 2020-21 due to falling demand due to the responsive measures taken to combat COVID-19. Bookshops throughout the country were forced to close during lockdowns and operate at a reduced capacity when they could open owing to social distancing measures. Revenue rebounded in 2021-22, on the back of the reopening of physical bookstores in April 2021 in the UK. However, the industry faced strong macroeconomic headwinds, including surging inflation, falling disposable income, supply chain difficulties and energy and raw material price rises in the two years through 2023-24. Industry profit has been on a tepid recovery since COVID-19, as digital markets open up a broad range of sale options like children's tablets. Improving disposable incomes and calmed inflation is advancing revenue in 2024-25; however, over the five years through 2024-25, revenue is expected to have dipped 0.6%. Children's book publishers are expected to rebound, with real household disposable income forecast to continue edging up and supporting demand for children's books. The average industry profit margin is anticipated to expand. As e-book technology and digital publishing have matured, many publishing houses have successfully modified their operations to adjust to the growing trend of digitalisation. Revenue is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 2% over the five years through 2029-30 to reach £958.4 million.

The companies in this sector publish both printed books and books in the form of e-books and audiobooks. In the period from 2019 to 2024, industry sales fell by an average of 0.3% per year. The reason for this only slightly negative trend despite the pandemic is the growing range of e-books and audiobooks on offer from publishers, which have been increasingly in demand from consumers in recent years. At the same time, increasing digitalisation has contributed to more and more consumers using services from providers such as Netflix or Amazon, which allow them to watch series and films on demand. In the current year, turnover for book publishers is expected to fall by 0.2% to 6.3 billion euros.Increasing internet use not only means that more and more consumers are spending their free time online instead of reading books, but also opens up new sales channels for book publishers through online retail. Online retailers and the online shops of book retailers account for an ever-increasing share of book sales, which means that online retail is becoming more and more important as a customer for industry players. As digitalisation progresses, demand for e-books and audiobooks is increasing. The easiest way to buy and download these is via the internet, which is why the new book formats are also having a significant impact on the shift in book sales from bricks-and-mortar retail to online retail. In addition, declining customer footfall in city centres is leading to lower customer numbers in bookshops and further reducing the importance of the book retail market. Competition from streaming services and other entertainment media will continue in the coming years, but will grow less strongly than in the last five years. IBISWorld is therefore forecasting only a slight decline in revenue of 0.4% per year on average to EUR 6.2 billion for the period from 2024 to 2029.

The Children's Book Publishing industry has contended with conflicting trends and the broader stagnation of the book publishing industry. Parents still value children's literacy despite digital alternatives, which has helped partially shield the industry from the external solid competition these digital alternatives have created. The rise of blockbuster young adult fiction and the subsequent hype from their movies has made a boom-and-bust cycle, with increases in revenue in years with significant releases often followed by declines. The market for children's books has expanded as e-readers and other popular devices, such as tablets and smartphones, make books easier to buy, read and store. Animation and other extra features made possible by these devices make e-books more attractive to children. Sentiments toward print books have strengthened primarily among parents and older readers. While e-books have been established as a solid part of the market, it is unlikely that this market segment will overtake its higher revenue physical counterpart anytime soon. As a result of these trends, industry revenue is expected to gain at a CAGR of 0.4% through the end of 2024 to $3.7 billion, including an expected hike of 1.0% in 2024 alone. Profit has slid to 5.8% in 2024, down from 6.7% in 2019. The industry is expected to enjoy sustained marginal growth in the coming years. High per capita disposable income levels and a boost in children nine and younger will conflate to strengthen downstream demand. Industry enterprises will continue to rely on the confluence power of books and movie hits to generate revenue. Savvy, small-scale publishers will also attempt to boost penetration into the e-book market. The success of this format will largely depend on the success of the e-reader platforms available, which is outside of industry enterprises' control. Rising competition from visual media platforms will continue to vie for children's attention, depressing revenue potential. Children's book publishing industry revenue is expected to hike at a CAGR of 0.8% through the end of 2029 to reach $3.6 billion.

Data on the size of the audiobook industry in the United States in 2024 showed that audiobook sales amounted to *** billion U.S. dollars. The source calculated this figure based on data from ** publishers, including Audible Inc., Hachette Audio, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster. In 2018, the source altered its reporting to better reflect the industry and align its figures more closely with other reports, meaning that numbers gathered prior to 2018 differed considerably from those provided since. In its 2021 report, the source also noted that audiobooks had seen a nine-year trend of double-digit revenue growth. The growing popularity of audiobooks Between 2010 and 2020, the number of audiobook titles published in the United States climbed from just over *** thousand to more than ** thousand. Meanwhile, surveys show that audiobook listenership is also growing. The average number of audiobooks listened to in the last year increased consistently between 2018 and 2020, and although the COVID-19 outbreak impacted media consumption in general, trends showed that growth was happening even before the pandemic took hold. Listening habits The home was the most popular audiobook listening location in 2020, which is unsurprising given the amount of time spent indoors during COVID-19 shutdowns. However, listening at home was appealing before the outbreak as well. Unlike e-books and print books, audiobooks can be enjoyed whilst on the move and when performing other tasks, whether this be household chores or during a commute to work. The format has also made books more accessible to those who struggle with reading, and a survey revealed that consumers cited many other reasons for listening to audiobooks, among which were companionship, educational purposes, and entertainment.

The declining demand for print in major European markets like the UK, Germany and France means newspaper publishers face shrinking revenue from both sales and printed advertisements. Publishers are adjusting by developing their digital presence, introducing subscription paywalls, subscriber-only newsletters, digital advertising initiatives and strategic media partnerships to support revenue as traditional print readership continues to slump. In the five years through 2025, Book, Newspaper & Magazine Publishing revenue is projected to drop at a compound annual rate of 4.6%, to reach €102.5 billion, including an estimated drop of 3.9% in 2025 when the average industry profit margin is expected to reach 9%. Despite difficult conditions, the book publishing segment has had a strong growth in revenue since 2020, fuelled by consumers picking up more books during lockdown periods. However, the cost of print publishing has risen significantly in recent years, driven higher by global inflation with the overall producer price index for paper and paper products in the Euro area climbed 1.1% since January 2025. Publishers also face higher transport and wage costs, which are squeezing profit and limiting revenue growth. In 2024, Western European transport expenses rose by approximately 3%, according to the European Commission. Rising fuel prices and persistent driver shortages continue to push logistics costs up across the publishing sector. Looking to the future, publishers must adapt to the new digital world. The gradual slump in print media means publishers must develop their digital presence to supplement their print publications. Still, publishing companies face growing pressure as more people turn to self-publishing platforms and social-focused news channels, bypassing traditional publishers. This will prompt companies to expand into multimedia like podcasts, video journalism, and interactive graphics to diversify content formats and reach younger demographics. These trends increasingly erode established income sources like print sales and conventional advertising. As a result, the industry will likely see revenue remain strained for several years ahead. Industry revenue is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 0.1% over the five years through 2030, reaching €103 billion.

Publishing houses in the Book Publishing industry have faced challenging operating conditions in recent years. Consumers are increasingly buying print books online rather than shopping at local bookstores, which has limited domestically published book demand. Traditionally, local publishers have relied on parallel import restrictions (PIRs) to protect their revenue. These restrictions prevent Australian companies from importing recently published books at a large scale, so that they cannot immediately undercut publishers’ prices. Although major foreign book retailing websites can offer foreign-published books directly to individual Australian consumers, solid demand for trade books (which are purchased in bulk and sold through traditional book retailers) has supported the industry’s performance in recent years. Industry revenue is expected to contract at an annualised 0.5% over the five years through 2023-24, to $1.9 billion. This trend includes an anticipated drop of 1.8% in the current year as discretionary incomes fall. Consumers have increasingly purchased books online over the past few years. As overseas retailers like Book Depository offer customers low prices and free international shipping, they have captured a rising share of the Australian book retailing market. This trend limited demand for local publishers, which only generate revenue from books sold by Australian retailers. Nonetheless, the Federal Government imposed GST on purchases under $1,000 made from overseas companies in July 2018, benefiting the industry. Industry profitability has weakened in recent years in response to significant price-based competition from online retailers, as well as growing costs. Industry revenue is forecast dwindle over the coming years, albeit at a slower rate than at present. Moving forward, discretionary income growth and the return of international students are projected to support demand for books. Nevertheless, competition among online-only book retailers will likely continue to constrain revenue generated by trade books over the coming years. The industry’s outlook is also heavily exposed to potential changes in PIR legislation, as multiple government commissions have recommended PIRs’ abolishment. Industry revenue is projected to decline at an annualised 0.1% over the five years through 2028-29, to $1.8 billion.

The Audiobook Publishing industry is expanding, becoming vital to the broader book publishing industry. Over the five years through 2025-26, revenue has grown at a compound annual rate of 5.1% to £226.3 million, including revenue growth of 1.8% in the current year. Online distribution has enabled high profitability, though increased investment in high-profile talent acquisition and content has limited profit growth post-pandemic. Subscription services fuelled the volume of audiobook publishing. Audible has cornered the market so far, but Spotify's venture into offering 15 hours of free listening and a subscription service from October 2023 presents formidable competition, intensifying the competitive landscape to the advantage of publishers as they compete for purchases. Technological advancements shape the development of the audiobook industry as it's dominated by digital audio content and online distribution. The swift expansion in smartphone ownership and enhanced memory space available on devices make downloading audiobooks easier. Meanwhile, the convenience of audiobooks broadens their appeal to a wider market. Both older and younger generations are contributing to this trend; older generations are adopting smartphones and smart devices at an exponential rate, extending the market reach, while younger generations habitually engage with audiobooks, often multitasking, reaffirming the appeal and increased demand for this form of entertainment. Data from the National Literacy Trust supports this by stating 42.3% of eight to eighteen-year-olds surveyed liked audiobooks or podcasts when not at school in 2024, up from 39.4% last year. Revenue is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 2% over the five years through 2030-31 to £250.2 million. Sales momentum has remained strong following COVID-19. Digital audiobook sales will continue to expand as more demographics gain access to smart devices and subscription service users climb, outperforming sales of other audiobook products. However, the amount of money publishers receive per audiobook sale could decline in the coming years as the industry approaches maturity and big publishers buy up independents. Publishers face a tenuous situation with AI, which will likely boost output but threatens to replace the responsibilities of writers, publishers and editors, which will potentially lower the total employment figure in the future.