Audiobooks are going global on Spotify. The company said on Wednesday that it is opening them up in more than 180 markets, spanning Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Availability starts on Wednesday and will widen across the next several months. In total, more than 750 million users will gain access, which strengthens Spotify's position against other music services and audiobook specialists such as Audible.
Before This Expansion
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Audiobooks had mainly been offered in English-speaking countries until now, among them the US, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, along with Germany.
Catalogue And Languages
For the new markets, Spotify has lined up more than 350,000 titles, and its overall collection now covers over 120 languages. In Spain, part of the launch, users will have more than 45,000 titles in Spanish to choose from. To bring more books to each market, Spotify is partnering with over 300 publishers around the world, among them Planeta and Mondadori.
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How Listeners Get Access
Premium subscribers in eligible countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Chile, Norway and Peru, can listen to 12 hours of audiobooks. Anyone, anywhere, can instead buy a standalone Audiobook+ subscription, which comes with a 15-hour allowance, or pay for titles one at a time.
Audiobook+ And A Student Add-On
Spotify also plans an Audiobook+ add-on for student plans in select regions, due in November. Since Audiobook+ launched last year, it has attracted more than 1 million subscribers and generated over 100 million in annual recurring revenue, the company said.
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Usage Growth And Page Match
Spotify said that audiobook listening has climbed over the past year: monthly listeners are up 40% and hours listened have risen 30%. A feature called Page Match, launched in February, lets people scan a page from a physical book and jump to the same spot in the audiobook, and 1 million people have used it each month since.
Other Audiobook Moves This Year
This year Spotify has also introduced Audiobook Charts so listeners can find popular titles, and an AI-powered tool built on ElevenLabs models that lets authors convert their books into audiobooks. It has additionally begun experimenting with selling physical books through its audiobook platform in select markets such as the US and UK.
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