During a highly-anticipated event held at its New York headquarters, Spotify announced a groundbreaking strategy for its audiobook service that will bring immense benefits to its Premium subscribers.
To kickstart this remarkable service, Spotify will initiate its grand launch in the United Kingdom and Australia, commencing immediately, followed by a gradual rollout across the United States later in the year. The company has ambitious plans to expand its audiobook service into even more markets, aiming to reach a global audience. As part of this exciting development, premium users will now have exclusive access to a meticulously curated collection of a staggering 150,000 audiobook titles, all at no additional expense.
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According to a publication, Spotify’s entry into the audiobook space began with its acquisition of Findaway, a digital audiobook distributor. They initially launched audiobooks in the United States in September 2022, starting with a catalogue of 300,000 titles before expanding to other English-speaking markets and eventually Canada in early 2023.
Spotify recognized the potential of the audiobook market, which was growing at an impressive rate, despite representing a relatively small share of the overall book market.
One of the challenges Spotify faced was navigating app store rules regarding in-app purchases, which led them to require users to purchase audiobooks from their website to play them within the app. This workaround made the user experience less seamless. However, by integrating audiobooks into the Premium service, Spotify aims to simplify the process of listening to audiobooks for its users.
Spotify also identified a distribution and discovery issue within the audiobooks market and plans to apply its successful strategies from the music and podcasting realms to solve this problem.
Although Spotify initially launched its audiobook catalogue with 300,000 titles, only half of them will be accessible through the Premium subscription. Users will be limited to 15 hours of listening per month, but they can purchase an additional 10 hours as a “top-off.”
To enhance the user experience, Spotify will provide editorial recommendations and personalized suggestions based on users’ preferences. These recommendations will be featured in the audiobook’s hub, alongside shelves highlighting popular genres.
Authors will also benefit from new tools, including customizable promo cards and insights into their audiobook performance. Additionally, Spotify plans to personalize audiobook recommendations and feature them in the app’s Home feed.
As the service rolls out in supported markets, subscribers will easily identify which audiobooks are included in the Premium offering. Users will have built-in sharing tools to share their favourite audiobooks on social media and create audiobook playlists.
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