ComiXology Passes 200 Million Downloads

ComiXology, the comic industry's leading digital comics platform, hit a major milestone this month with its 200 millionth digital download.

That marks substantial growth for the company, which hit the 100 million downloads mark only last year. ComiXology was founded in 2007, and its digital reader app launched in 2009, meaning that readers have downloaded as many comics through the app in the past year as they did in the first three.

Crain's New York Business attributes ComiXology's success to the fact that it makes comics accessible to people who don't live near comic stores, and at a time when the overall market is growing. The industry is on course to have its best year since 2000, perhaps in part because of the popularity of comics properties in other media, such as the Marvel movies and The Walking Dead TV show.

The publisher can also credit some of its growth to the emerging tablet computing market and the launch of "day and date" digital releases in 2011, which saw DC become the first publisher to put its comics out via ComiXology the same day they arrive in stores. ComiXology faces increasing competition from the likes of Amazon when it comes to the distribution of graphic novels and digital collections, but Crain's notes that the company retains an exclusive on single issues with most of its partners.

Tim Beyers at The Motley Fool speculates that, based on its current performance, ComiXology could be heading for an IPO stock market launch, which would mean that unlike Diamond Comics Distributors and other major privately held businesses in the industry, fans could potentially own stock in the company.