This undated photo shows customers reading e-books at a cafe in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province. (WANG LUXIAN / FOR CHINA DAILY)

HANGZHOU - The number of e-content readers had reached 470 million in China by 2019, according to a white paper released this week.

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The white paper, released by the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, was based on a survey of more than 20 major e-content providers and a corporate industry study, complemented with research on more than 91,600 respondents' reading habits conducted in 209 cities in China.

The "post-1990s generation," or those in their 20s, accounted for 55.6 percent of all e-content readers in the country

It said the "post-1990s generation," or those in their 20s, accounted for 55.6 percent of all e-content readers in the country.

The average reader of e-books reads or browses 15 books in a year, with more than 53 percent reading more than 20 books, according to the white paper.

About 88 percent of the e-book readers read three or more times each week, it said. 

Meanwhile, the e-content reading market value in China had grown to 28.88 billion yuan (about US$4.13 billion) by 2019, marking a year-on-year growth of 13.5 percent, according to the white paper.

Those aged between 18 and 25 are the most willing to pay for their e-content reading.

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The author group for digital reading is also growing, reaching 9.29 million in 2019, and over 58 of them were from the "post-1990s generation," or those mainly in their 20s.

The development of technologies has enabled digital contents to reach readers through more channels, helping the spread and marketing of popular products, according to the white paper.