Report: U.S. K-12 Publishing Market Reinvents Itself As Textbooks Steadily Lose Market Share Despite Moderate Growth

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Aug 25, 2014, 09:03 ET

STAMFORD, Conn., Aug. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The PreK-12 publishing market is in the midst of reinventing itself. The large traditional publishers, accustomed to the instructional materials industry being built around the textbook, are going through business-altering restructuring as they work to reposition themselves for the future. The PreK-12 market shows signs of growth for instructional materials, which generated sales of $8 billion, up 2.1% from 2012, on rejuvenating demand after a prolong period of no growth, according to the recently published report Publishing for the PreK-12 Market 2014-2015 by research firm Simba Information.

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The report can be found at: http://www.simbainformation.com/redirect.asp?progid=86572&productid=7970203

Overall, Simba projects continued demand to drive modest growth over the next several years, as the moderate economic recovery has kept any fast-forward movement in check. States are focusing more on education, while teacher salaries and technology are grabbing more of the attention than instructional materials.

"One certainty is that over the period into 2017, there will be an ongoing movement from print to digital in terms of format use for content in schools," said Kathy Mickey, Simba's managing editor and an author of the report. "Publishers already are effecting that transition in their offerings: building digital and adjusting pricing models to put the focus on digital with print as more of a tag-along"

While electronic media steadily gains more ground in the school instructional materials market, traditional print textbooks struggle for a foothold. Technology alternatives, viewed as an effective and cost-saving option, threaten the position of textbooks in the school market.

Textbook sales has gone from commanding more than 50% market share back in the late 1990s to less than 40% in recent years, reflecting a shift away from the big paper-based comprehensive program that that textbooks offered.

Courseware, which offers the most direct competition to the role textbooks have held in school classroom, shows the strongest growth among instructional materials, reflecting the growing role technology is achieving in the instructional process. Simba Information estimates that the courseware market will reach $1.39 billion in 2014, up 8.5% from 2013.

Content providers—both traditional publishers and instructional software providers—face competition (as well as potential partnerships) from technology giants like Google, Samsung, Apple and Dell, which have created more complex plans of their own in the school market—not just selling devices but developing technology environments for learning.

The biggest uncertainty in the forward progression of instructional materials market is the impact of the 2016 presidential campaign on federal education policy. Will Race to the Top be abandoned? Is another No Child Left Behind policy brewing in the horizon? Despite these possible changes, it is unlikely the focus on improving student outcomes will diminish, providing a continuing spur for new, more effective instructional materials.

For more information on Simba's new report, which provides a segmented overview of the entire PreK-12 publishing industry and sales estimates through 2017, visit http://www.simbainformation.com/Publishing-PreK-7970203/ or call 888-29-SIMBA.

About Simba Information
Simba Information is widely recognized as the leading authority for market intelligence in the media and publishing industry. Simba's extensive information network delivers top quality, independent perspective on the people, events and alliances shaping the media and information industry. Simba publishes newsletters and research reports that provide key decision-makers at more than 15,000 client companies around the globe with timely news, analysis, exclusive statistics and proprietary industry forecasts. For more information, please visit www.simbainformation.com.

Contact:
Kathy Mickey
Senior Analyst, Education Group
Simba Information
203-325-8193 x4002
[email protected]

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SOURCE Simba Information