Spotify Expands Audiobook Service to More Than 180 Markets
Popular digital music streaming platform Spotify has announced a major expansion of its audiobook service worldwide. The company has begun rolling out the service in more than 180 new markets across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The move will give approximately 750 million additional users around the world access to Spotify’s audiobook service.
Previously, the service was largely limited to selected English-speaking markets, including the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Germany.
The major expansion is aimed at strengthening Spotify’s position in the global audiobook market and intensifying competition with major players such as Amazon’s Audible and other audiobook platforms.
Extensive Catalogue and Subscription Options
To serve users in the new markets, Spotify has added more than 350,000 audiobooks to its catalogue, available in more than 120 languages.
The extensive collection has been developed through agreements with more than 300 publishers worldwide, including international publishing groups such as Planeta and Penguin Random House. For example, following the launch of the service in Spain, listeners there will have access to more than 45,000 Spanish-language audiobooks.
Depending on the market, Premium subscribers will be able to listen to up to 12 hours of audiobooks per month. Users can also subscribe separately to the Audiobooks Plus plan, which provides up to 15 hours of audiobook listening per month. Individual titles can also be purchased separately.
New Innovations and Use of Artificial Intelligence
According to Spotify, the number of monthly audiobook listeners on its platform increased by nearly 40 percent over the past year, while total listening time rose by 30 percent. The Audiobooks Plus service, launched last year, has already surpassed one million subscribers.
To make it easier for users to discover new audiobooks, Spotify has recently introduced audiobook charts featuring popular titles. The company has also launched a dedicated tool that allows authors to more easily use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to convert their books into audiobooks.
Meanwhile, the Page Match feature, which allows users to scan pages of physical books and listen to the corresponding audiobook directly, is now being used by approximately one million people every month.
Through these technological innovations and the expansion of its global catalogue, Spotify is strengthening its position in the rapidly growing digital audio market worldwide.
//DBTech/BMT/OR//
