Book buyers go for titles mentioned on Canadian TV, radio
Sounds Like Canada boosts children's books
Last Updated: Friday, June 29, 2007 | 4:20 PM ET
CBC Arts
CBC Radio One's Sounds Like Canada is the most influential radio show in Canada in terms of getting Canadians to buy books, according to a new study from BookNet Canada.
Sounds Like Canada's regular children's book panel is having a big impact on book sales, with 67 per cent of the titles it features experiencing an immediate spike in sales.
The average sales increase of books mentioned by the panel in the week following the show was 83 per cent, according to BookNet, which tracks book sales in Canada.
Researchers also heard from booksellers that shoppers wait to listen to the panel on the morning show hosted by Shelagh Rogers before making a purchase for a child.
Several Canadian radio and TV shows are having a significant impact on book sales, including Citytv's Breakfast Television, CTV's Canada AM, Rogers's Fine Print, and CBC Radio shows The Current, Talking Books and The Arts Tonight, according to the study released Friday.
The study compared the sales of more than 200 titles in the week following their mention on radio or TV during April and May 2006.
Half the titles featured on Canada AM had significant increases, defined as 10 to 20 per cent. About 41 per cent of titles that appeared on Breakfast Television fell into that category.
The study said Canadian television programs had an impact on book sales that was almost as powerful as an interview with an author on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Such an appearance on Oprah can lift Canadian sales by more than 351 per cent, though only 40 per cent of titles she featured were affected. Researchers did not study the much larger impact of Oprah, including on a book in her book club.
Titles on Canada AM had sales increases of up 333 per cent and titles on Breakfast Television were up as much as 121 per cent.
TV and radio mentions had more impact on sales of books that have been out for some time than on newer titles.
CBC Radio One's The Current also strongly influenced books sales, with a significant sales increase enjoyed by 33 per cent of titles mentioned.
Canada Reads, the annual CBC Radio One series in which a panel tries to settle on a single book for all of Canada to read, was held in February 2006 and did not get considered in the study.
However, it is also believed to boost sales of all the books featured in the program, and especially the winner.
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