Spotify announced on Wednesday that it is expanding access to audiobooks to more than 180 markets in Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The rollout begins today and will continue over the coming months. With this move, more than 750 million users of the platform will gain access to audiobooks and Spotify will be better positioned to compete with services like Audible.
Previously, Spotify’s audiobooks were primarily available in English-speaking markets including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Germany.
The platform said it has more than 350,000 titles available for the new markets and its library now covers more than 120 languages. With the launch in Spain, users in that country will have access to more than 45,000 Spanish books. Spotify is working with more than 300 publishers, including Planeta and Mondadori, to increase the number of titles in each market.
Access methods and subscriptions
Premium subscribers in eligible countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Chile, Norway and Peru, can listen to 12 hours of audiobooks per month. Users worldwide can also subscribe to the standalone Audiobook+ plan for access to 15 hours or buy titles outright.
Spotify will add an Audiobook+ add-on for student plans in selected regions in November.
According to Spotify, Audiobook+ has attracted more than one million subscribers since its launch last year and has generated more than 100 million in annual revenue. Monthly audiobook listeners have increased 40 percent over the past year and listening hours are up 30 percent.
New features and tools
In February the company introduced a “Page Match” feature. Using it, a user scans a page of a print book and finds the same spot in the audiobook. Spotify says one million people use this feature each month.
This year Spotify introduced “audiobook charts” to discover popular titles. It also offered an AI-based tool for authors to convert their books to audio using ElevenLabs models. Additionally, selling print books through the audiobook platform is being tested in selected markets, including the U.S. and the U.K.