Christian goods flow into mainstream
The Houston Chronicle reports that Christian materials are selling well in mainstream America. While this is good for the penetration of Christian materials overall, only a small number of Christian retailers are reaping the fruits of this harvest.
A noteworthly statistic for this trend comes from the Market Share Reporter />
bq. Barely more than half—54 percent—of Christian books were sold in Christian bookstores in 2001, according to Market Share Reporter.
p. Gwen Florio of the Denver Post reports:
bq.. Christian books on the bestseller lists. Christian hip-hop in the Top 10. Christian computer games for the kids, Christian movies at the multiplex, Christian greeting cards in the Hallmark stores, Christian clothing—from poke-bonnet modest to baggy-pants X-treme—on the Web.
Christianity hasn’t just entered the mainstream, it is swimming to the lead.
The Christian retail industry accounts for $4.2 billion in annual sales, up from $1 billion in 1980, according to the booksellers group.
“Mainstream culture has discovered them as a huge profit-making potential,” says Michael Cromartie, director of the Evangelical Studies Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center />
p. Some examples of this trend mentioned in the article:
bq.. Radio, the Cuba Gooding movie heavily previewed to church groups, has been on the Top 10 box office list since its release. Gooding previously starred in the gospel-music comedy The Fighting Temptations, also advertised to Christian audiences. And the movie adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books—which the devoutly Catholic author specifically revised to include Christian themes when he published them in the 1950s—have all been blockbusters.
Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life is No. 1 on the Publishers Weekly hardcover nonfiction bestseller list, where it’s been comfortably ensconced for 46 weeks.
Religious books accounted for 4 percent of the $13.2 billion book market in 2002, according to the American Booksellers Association. Zondervan, one of the leading Christian publishing houses, is now part of publishing giant Harper Collins />
The Procussions new release, As Iron Sharpens Iron spent several weeks on the CMJ’s Top 20 Hip-Hop chart this fall. About 50 million Christian and gospel CDs were sold in 2001, comprising 7.7 percent of the market, according to Market Share Reporter>.
p. [ Full Story @ HoustonChronicle.com ]
p(small). Source:Houston Chronicle© 2003 Denver Post
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