‘Harry Potter At Home’ Initiatives Help New Generation Discover The Magic Of Reading
Harry Potter at Home initiative inspires new generation of readers (Illustration by Jim Kay)
Courtesy of Wizarding World Digital for Harry Potter At Home
New statistics reveal the global impact of Wizarding World Digital’s Harry Potter at Home initiatives, helping to inspire a new generation to discover the magic of reading through free online chapter readings and access to the first Harry Potter book.
As Harry Potter fans and young readers have been confined to their homes due to Covid-19 lockdown measures over the past few months, Harry Potter at Home initiatives have offered free access the first Harry Potter book. Over seven million fans visited HarryPotteratHome.com, a free online hub created by Wizarding World Digital for Harry Potter fans, families and new readers, during lockdown. 18 million fans are now signed up to Wizarding World Digital’s Harry Potter Fan Club.
The initiative led to over 37 million digital book sales, video views and audio listens between March–July 2020. Digital copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s / Sorcerer’s Stone moved to top spots on The New York Times
NYT
series bestseller list, Amazon.com chart list and Audible.com best-seller list (despite the book being available for free), and over 4.5 million people listened to the first book via Amazon’s Alexa as part of Audible’s free Listening Event, according to Wizarding World Digital. Bloomsbury also reported that physical sales of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the U.K. increased 1% year on year in first half of 2020.
Despite reports of Harry Potter underperforming in June 2020 from NPD BookScan, Wizarding World Digital reports that Scholastic physical sales of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone doubled during lockdown. Additionally, during March and April 2020, one million readers borrowed Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s / Sorcerer’s Stone digitally in the U.S. and U.K. for free from online library services such as OverDrive, a partner of Wizarding World Digital as part of the Harry Potter at Home initiatives.
A recent survey from U.K. national charity the Reading Agency (by Beano Brain Omnibus 2020) showed that 37% of children were reading more during lockdown. Karen Napier, Chief Executive at the Reading Agency praised the Harry Potter at Home initiative for encouraging families to read for pleasure:
‘While the numbers speak for themselves, the Harry Potter At Home set of free initiatives has had one simple aim from the start – helping children, carers and parents enjoy reading together during a hugely difficult time all over the world. We know, from our recent survey to launch the Summer Reading Challenge, that 37% of children have been reading more in lockdown, and the recent Reading Together Day showed a clear appetite for collectively celebrating the joy of reading – so it’s brilliant to see free initiatives like this encouraging families to read for pleasure, while having a huge amount of fun.’
In addition to providing free access to the first Harry Potter eBook, audiobook and online celebrity chapter readings, the Harry Potter at Home hub also provided free learning resources for readers and families, created by Bloomsbury and Scholastic. Over twenty years on from its publication, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone continues to influence new generations. The book recently received the 30from30 award from the British Book Awards, honoring the most influential books from the past three decades.
