After a successful few years muscling in on the podcasting sector, Spotify has today launched an audiobook offering, with over 300,000 titles available.
The audiobooks will be available in the main Spotify app, and will be available to be purchased on a book-by-book basis. Listeners can download content for offline listening, while the app features automatic bookmarking, playback speed control, and a rating feature similar to Amazon, which will publicly display the aggregate rating of the book.
Nir Zicherman, Spotify’s Vice President and Global Head of Audiobooks and Gated Content, explained the company’s move into the audiobook sector is “because we see a substantial untapped market”, pointing out that, while audiobooks represent just a 6-7 per cent share of the wider book market, the category is growing by 20 per cent year over year.
“We are running faster and are more focused than anyone else in audio,” Zicherman said.
“And we believe that audio and long-form content is a much bigger business than what many would have thought. 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.”
Spotify Audiobooks is available in the US from today, with other countries rolling out soon.
