Since its launch just over a year ago, Spotify’s Audiobooks in Premium offering has helped introduce the format to an entirely new audience across the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. We’re seeing more listeners try audiobooks for the first time and embrace new and different books, with hundreds of thousands of unique titles streamed.
Today, we’re thrilled to announce that listeners in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg will now have access to audiobooks, which includes exciting work from local authors such as Gaël Faye, Maylis de Kerangal, Joël Dicker, Suzanne Vermeer, and Saskia Noort, to name a few.
Eligible Spotify Premium subscribers in those countries will be able to access more than 200,000 audiobook titles as part of their subscriptions. Any title not included in our Audiobooks in Premium offering can be purchased à la carte. Listeners in these regions without a Premium subscription can also purchase any title on Spotify.
In partnership with publishers from across these markets, Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, has the potential to grow the size of the audiobook industry overall. We are enabling more listeners than ever to discover and engage with a rich catalog of titles, including in their own language, and paving the way for future innovation of the audiobook format.
“Spotify’s reach presents a significant opportunity to expand the audiobooks market across France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg,” said Antoine Monin, Managing Director, Spotify Western Europe. “Since our launch in Western Europe 16 years ago, Spotify has evolved into a leading platform for music, podcasts, and now audiobooks. We are proud to spotlight this region’s rich literary tradition, with 15,000 French and 15,000 Dutch and Flemish titles joining our catalog, advancing our mission to empower audio creators globally and connect them with audiences both locally and internationally.”
One year of Audiobooks in Premium
While it’s still early days, the reaction to Audiobooks in Premium from authors, publishers, and listeners in available markets has been remarkable. On Spotify, we’ve seen user engagement increase among listeners who started an audiobook for the first time. In the U.S., these users spend an average of five additional hours on Spotify over their first two months after starting a book.
This launch opens up new opportunities for local authors and rights holders and helps create an additional revenue stream for the industry. With 28% of Spotify’s users located in Europe, we’ll continue investing in and growing the available audience and revenue pies for publishers and authors.
Spotify announced this latest expansion today in Paris with a panel featuring voices from across the industry: Laure Saget, CEO of Hachette’s Audiolib and Audiobook Commission President at the French Publishers Association, Liza Faja, Head of Lizzie, the audiobook imprint of Editis, Éric Marbeau, Head of Digital Distribution at Madrigall, parent company of Éditions Gallimard and Editions Flammarion, and Timothée Borne, CEO of the immersive audio content production company Blynd Media.
