Scholastic buoyed by The Hunger Games

March 15, 2012 by Jeremy Dickson

The impact of the hit young adult book series The Hunger Games has helped boost book publisher Scholastic’s 2012 third quarter revenue to US$467 million, up 22% from US$384 million a year ago.

Largely driven by print and eBook sales of The Hunger Games and the buzz surrounding the upcoming March 23 release of the first movie in the trilogy, the publisher’s children’s book publishing and distribution segment recorded third quarter revenue of US$266 million, compared to US$193 million a year ago.

2012 third quarter revenue from its educational technology and services came in at US$40 million, up US$1.8 million versus the same period a year ago.

Led by strong sales of The Hunger Games in Canada, the UK and Australia, Scholastic’s international revenue was US$105.6 million, compared to US$95.1 million in the same period a year ago. Improved sales were also recorded in Singapore and India.

As the publisher looks to evolve its business digitally, sales of its interactive products helped increase its media, licensing and advertising segment revenue to $US17.2 million, up US$2.3 million versus the same period last year.

Tags: Scholastic, The Hunger Games