Encyclopedia Britannica drops print edition, goes digital

Firm drops "obsolete" 244-year-old print edition in response to digital growth.

The Encyclopedia Britannica has decided to stop publishing its weighty 32-volume print editions after 244 years, and instead focus on digital.

Britannica previously made money by selling encyclopedias door-to-door, but it has faced growing competition from the likes of Google and Wikipedia.

The Chicago-based company now generates 85% of its revenue from digital sales, and also recently started offering a digital encyclopedia for tablet computers.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Encyclopedia Britannica president Jorge Cauz said that the sales of printed editions, first published in Edinburgh in 1768, have been "negligible for several years".

Speaking to reporters, he said: "This has nothing to do with Wikipedia or Google. This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its digital products to a large number of people."

The final hardcover copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica set is available now for purchase from Britannica's website, priced at $1,395 (£894).

Cauz said that printed sales of the box set peaked in 1990 with 120,000 sets sold, but that number had declined to just 40,000 six years later.

The company began digital publishing in the late 1980s with CD-ROM versions of the books, before going online in 1994. Online versions of the encyclopedia are now used by around 100m people worldwide.

Britannica has a staff of more than 100 editors, backed up by a network of expert contributors around the world, including high-profile figures such as ex-US president Bill Clinton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

As many people now have access to the internet on computers and connected devices, the concept of a printed reference guide feels increasingly outmoded.

Britannica said that it wants to move with its customers, but also the shift to digital enables the firm to continuously update the encyclopedia.

"A printed encyclopedia is obsolete the minute that you print it," Cauz said. "Whereas our online edition is updated continuously."

The company is marking the end of its print edition by offering the contents of its website for free to users for one week, starting yesterday.

> British Library puts 4m historic newspaper pages online
> More media news


Most Popular
Hillsborough inquest verdict: Relatives of the 96 fans who were unlawfully killed in the stadium disaster hug outside court
Media
Share
Hillsborough inquest: 96 people were unlawfully killed
No supporter behaviour contributed to the deaths.
Ched Evans
Media
Share
Ched Evans wins appeal against rape conviction
The former footballer will face a new trial.
Media
Share
BBC Radio Leicester couple face child sex charges
The charges involve four children aged 11 to 15.
Media
Share
Le Monde pays touching tribute after Brussels attacks
Cartoon draws parallel with Paris shootings.
Kay Burley at Sky News
Media
Share
Sky News' Kay Burley speaks out after Brussels attacks
"Maybe a little too early to make political capital?"
Media
Share
New national daily paper The New Day is launching
With "an optimistic approach" and "politically neutral".
A copy of The Sun newspaper.
Media
Share
Mirror publisher planning New Day newspaper
It will apparently cost 25p at first.
The Independent and i newspapers
Media
Share
Independent goes online-only, print titles will close
Last edition of the paper is expected to go on sale on March 26.
Digital Spy shown on a laptop
Media
Share
A Digital Spy degree? There's a course for that
A new MA in Art and Design.
James Murdoch speaks onstage during 'Fox and the Future' at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit
Media
Share
James Murdoch returns to Sky as chairman
Rupert Murdoch's son left after the phone hacking scandal.
http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a371070/encyclopedia-britannica-drops-print-edition-goes-digital/
www.digitalspy.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2016-36
276556
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:B4DPRUN4K2A7JWYOX6QPW4OJEK5OZAJG
<urn:uuid:efcaa827-8c47-4c48-9adc-6e5ecc3d2eee>
2016-08-26T03:46:20Z
151.101.20.249
sha1:R2MAKYXAEQFLZBWDMZFHWWHYNO3TQUDI
<urn:uuid:3e53fd2c-24d4-4e17-ba60-df6d1406543f>
http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a371070/encyclopedia-britannica-drops-print-edition-goes-digital/
response
<urn:uuid:55b34c6a-cae0-4caa-a5dc-813d6f2c6036>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2016-36
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for August 2016
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf