Those results come from the Pew Research Center, which focuses on the persistent domination of print while acknowledging the decade-long incremental rise of audiobooks.
“The share of adults who have read a print book in the past 12 months has declined […] Digital and audiobooks, by comparison, have become more widely used.
Pew tracks these trends in a chart (below) which shows the uneven but undeniable growth of ebooks and audiobooks.
We see the listening trend becoming resolutely upward starting in 2015, and rising to 26 percent. Ebooks seem to have settled into a steady 31% of usage. Print soars above them, with slight decline over 14 years.
Demographic information is not in the chart, but is charted by Pew. We are told (HERE) that younger Americans (under 50) are more likely than older adults to use audiobooks (and ebooks). The chart below organizes the data by age.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/09/americans-still-opt-for-print-books-over-digital-or-audio-versions-few-are-in-book-clubs/