Books and Media inventory turnover.

Where the 3.0x median comes from

The 3.0x figure is the cross-firm median for books and media as of 2026-06-20, derived from the NYU Stern working-capital dataset maintained by Aswath Damodaran. Top-quartile operators in this category clear 4.5x; the bottom quartile sits at 2.0x.

At the median, average inventory equals roughly 122 days of cost of goods sold. A business under bank-covenant review should compare its trailing-twelve-month ratio against this median first, then against the 4.5x top-quartile mark before setting a working-capital target.

Benchmark band

The band below plots a hypothetical 3.0x ratio against the industry axis. Colour bands flag whether a result is within fifteen percent of the median (caution), above it (healthy), or more than fifteen percent below it (risk).

Five-year trend

The books and media median has moved from 3.2x in the earliest comparable year to 3.0x in the latest pull, a modest drag of 0.2 turns.

How to use this number

• Pull trailing-twelve-month COGS and the matching average inventory balance from the GL.
• Compute your turnover with the calculator on the homepage. Select the Books and Media benchmark.
• If your ratio is below 3.0x by more than fifteen percent, start the playbook at diagnose low turnover.
• If you sit above 4.5x, confirm stock-out frequency before declaring victory. See high vs low turnover.

Try the calculator with the Books and Media benchmark