Spotify announced on Wednesday that it is expanding audiobook access to over 180 markets worldwide, including regions across Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The rollout begins today and will continue over the next few months. With this move, more than 750 million users will be able to access audiobooks, allowing Spotify to better compete with both music streaming providers and audiobook apps like Audible.
Prior to this, audiobooks were mainly available in English-speaking markets such as the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as in Germany.
The audio platform said it has more than 350,000 titles for its new markets and has increased its collection to include over 120 languages. With its launch in Spain, users in the country have access to over 45,000 titles in Spanish.
Spotify works with more than 300 publishers worldwide, including Planeta and Mondadori, to increase the number of titles in different markets.
With a premium subscription, users can listen to 12 hours of audiobooks in eligible countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Chile, Norway and Peru. People around the world can also purchase an Audiobook+ standalone subscription to access titles with a 15-hour allowance. Alternatively, users can purchase individual titles directly.
Spotify is also adding an Audiobook+ add-on for student plans in select regions in November. The company said that since its launch last year, Audiobook+ has gained over 1 million subscribers and received over 100 million in annual recurring revenue for the platform.
In February, the company launched a “Page Match” feature that allows users to scan a page of a physical book and find the corresponding point in the audiobook to listen to. Since launch, 1 million people have used the feature every month, the company noted.
Spotify said that over the past year, monthly audiobook listeners have grown by 40% and listening hours have increased by 30%.
This year, the company introduced audiobook charts to help people discover popular titles. It also launched an AI-powered tool for authors to turn their books into audiobooks using models from ElevenLabs. Additionally, Spotify has begun experimenting with physical sales of books through its audiobook platform in select markets such as the US and the UK
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