App makers try to cash in on the craze for adult colouring books
Crayon-wielding enthusiasts say they’ll never abandon paper, but the ease of use and creative scope of colouring apps are threatening the growth of colouring book publishers
Since she got in on the adult colouring book craze two years ago, Cheri Brown has spent more than US$400 on 50 books holding intricate sketches that she embellishes with marker pens, coloured pencils and gel pens.
But in November, Brown shifted spending to digital products. She paid US$100 for mobile apps including Recolor and Colorfy, which comScore researchers say together reached 2.3 million users in the US in March, less than 10 months after launching.
Brown, who crisscrossed the world as a diver for 30 years, now relaxes at home in the Los Angeles area. Eight hours a day, usually settled in an armchair or curled up in bed, she pecks with her right index finger at an iPad Mini, lighting its screen with the blues, greens and silvers of the sea.
Brown, 63, even plans to pay upward of US$700 for a stylus and an iPad Pro. It stores more artwork, boasts a bigger screen and offers greater precision.
“If I had US$100 to spend on colouring, I’d be more likely to buy into a really good app than buy colouring books,” she said. “You see where my purchases are starting to go.”
The rise of colouring apps threatens the enormous growth of colouring book publishers, who sold 12 million adult and children’s colouring books in the US last year – 1,100 per cent more than in 2014, according to tracking firm Nielsen.