Scrolling stories: Ebook use in Canada 2025

Ebooks are an integral part of the Canadian book market. Nearly 14% of all books purchased by Canadians in 2025 were ebooks, according to the Canadian Book Consumer Study 2025. At the same time, 71% of Canadians reported reading an ebook in 2025 in the Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2025.

Our new, free study, Scrolling stories: Ebook Use in Canada 2025, shines light on ebook use in Canada, and reveals the buying, borrowing, and reading habits of Canadian ebook consumers.

Highlights

  • 71% of Canadians read an ebook in 2025.

  • 34% of all Canadian book buyers bought ebooks and 29% of all Canadian book borrowers borrowed ebooks last year. 

  • Canadian ebook buyers spent an average of $11.85 per ebook in 2025.

  • Ebook buyers were more influenced by price than all buyers: 41% of Canadian ebook buyers purchased their books at a specific location due to a good price, offer, or promo compared with only 29% of Canadian book buyers.

  • 55% of Canadian ebook borrowers gave wanting to save money as the reason they borrowed rather than bought their ebooks.

  • Over half of all Canadian ebook readers in 2025 read between one and five ebooks last year (59%).

  • The largest share of ebook readers used their smartphones to read their books (36%).