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OverDrive Says Digital Checkouts Topped 820 Million in 2025

In a release, OverDrive reps also reported that more than 200 library systems, consortia, and school libraries surpassed the 'one million digital checkouts' milestone for the year.

Library patrons using OverDrive’s Libby and Sora apps logged more than 820 million digital checkouts worldwide in 2025, which reps said was a 10.9% increase over 2024.

According to a release, OverDrive users in 2025 borrowed 379.4 million ebooks (+3%) and 315.9 million audiobooks (+13%).

Users also logged more than 125 million magazine checkouts (+31%); and 55.7 million checkouts of comics (+22%). The number of adult checkouts in 2025 rose 7% to 520.4 million, while children and YA borrows were up 9%, to 174.6 million.

OverDrive reports that the bulk of the borrows—737.6 million—were from public libraries, a 9% increase over 2024, while school checkouts were up 14%, to 63.4 million.

The Libby app also continued to grow in 2025, the release notes, with some 9.8 million users installing the Libby app in 2025, a 3% bump.

According the release, library video streaming service Kanopy racked up 3.6 million new users, a hefty 41% increase over 2024. OverDrive acquired library video streaming service Kanopy in 2021. According to the release, Kanopy users logged 29.9 million plays in 2025, an 8% increase over 2024.

The release also reported that more than 200 library systems, consortia, and school libraries surpassed one million digital checkouts for the year.

While the pace of OverDrive’s growth has understandably slowed in recent years as the library marketplace has matured, the company’s annual releases show that the overall number of checkouts has posted impressive growth over the last decade: from 196 million checkouts in 2016 to more than 820 million in 2025, a period that saw OverDrive launch its school-focused Sora app, acquire Kanopy, and of course, there was a significant bump in digital lending that came with the pandemic.

The company also changed ownership, with private equity firm KKR purchasing OverDrive from Rakuten in 2020.

Per the company's annual releases, OverDrive's digital checkouts over the last decade: