On Tuesday, Spotify made an announcement to all subscribers in the United States that they are now eligible to purchase and enjoy more than 300,000 audiobook titles. For each book, there is a price to pay by the users but no subscription plans have been released yet.
Spotify takes competition with Amazon audiobook
Spotify is the biggest competitor for Amazon’s Audible. It has already taken over Apple and Pandora and is now ready to compete with Audible.
Usually, audiobooks cover 6% to 7% of the book market but it has to reach a growth of 20% rate than ever and it will be an excellent strategy for Spotify.
Vice president of Spotify Nir Zicherman responded in a blog post and considered it “a substantial untapped market”.
“We believe that audio and long-form content is a much bigger business than what many would have thought,” the global head of audiobooks said.
“Our expansion into audiobooks is a significant proof-point in that belief. And this is just the beginning. Just as we did with podcasting, this will introduce a new format to an audience that has never before consumed it, unlocking a whole new segment of potential listeners. This also helps us support even more kinds of creators and connect them with fans who will love their art which makes this even more exciting,” Zicherman elaborated.
“The offering available today in the U.S. is just the first iteration of audiobooks on Spotify,” says Zicherman. “We’ll learn a lot through this launch and leverage those learnings as we enhance the experience with new features, plan for launches in additional markets, and innovate on the format to benefit listeners, authors, and publishers.”