Spotify’s recent venture into the audiobook market is paying off for both the streamer and for publishing houses. Data from Bookstat reveals that Spotify captured an 11% market share of the US audiobook market in Q4 of 2023, driving a total market growth of 28% year-over-year.
The company began offering 15 hours of audiobook listening to premium subscribers in the UK, Australia, and the US in October and November and has already surpassed Apple’s listenership in the sector. However, Spotify still trails behind Amazon-owned Audible. Bookstat told the New York Times that Spotify appears to be expanding the market rather than simply drawing away existing customers from Audible and Apple.
With the gains, the streamer is also stepping into audiobook production through its acquisition of Findaway.
Spotify has already disbursed tens of millions of dollars in royalties to audiobook publishers, with Britney Spears’s memoir, The Woman in Me, being the most-listened to title. Of the more than 200,000 books offered, users have accessed around 90,000 of them. Spotify has secured partnerships with all five major publishers in the US, along with smaller publishers and self-published authors, employing standard industry payment models.
While major publishers like Hachette and HarperCollins have added their complete audio catalogs to Spotify, others have opted for a more selective approach, causing varied reactions among authors and agents. Publishers remain optimistic that Spotify’s algorithm-driven recommendations will introduce books to new audiences, potentially altering demographic trends within the audiobook market.
