What media format generates the most revenue dollars worldwide? A lot of people will be surprised to discover that the good old book publishing industry is larger than movies, magazines, video games, and music in the global media and entertainment industry.

The global estimates for book publishing include trade, educational, and science-technology-medical publishing. It is fair to argue that educational and science-technology-medical publishing should not be used to compare books against entertainment. But then we have to remove those categories from television and magazines – and the comparison gets impossible.

With the explosion of digital publishing, there are those that have declared the “book is dead.” But the oldest communication technology is still alive and kicking!

The data was gathered by Rudiger Wischenbart Content Consulting for the International Publishers Association 2013 report.