Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm - White Paper - Frankfurter Buchmesse
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Linda Lee
Audiobooks:
Taking the
World by Storm
White Paper
Follow us: #fbm20
More information: buchmesse.de/audio
1 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm
Abstract
Audiobooks are the current darling of today’s publishing industry. This paper will examine the trends shaping today’s
audiobook market as well as look at what the future may hold for the industry in the era of increasing audio proliferation.
In considering new sales and distribution models, this paper looks to illuminate the different models currently available
and how they are supporting and shaping the audiobook market’s growth.
The paper is written in partnership with Zebralution, which was founded in 2004 as the first digital distributor for inde-
pendent music labels in Europe and entered the audiobook market in 2010. Zebralution has gathered interesting data
regarding consumer behaviors, which can be used to understand what is driving market growth. Since there is no inter-
national standard in data collection and some online retailers withhold sales data as proprietary information, the data
provided by Zebralution gives a useful but admittedly partial snapshot at one segment of the consumer market, hoping
that publishers and further interested parties will be able to use this information as guidance for their future publishing
plans.
Table of Contents
1. An overall look at the global market today and factors that are driving growth
THE MARKET TODAY.............................................................................................................................................................. 3
TRENDS .................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
TECHNOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
SIZE OF MARKET .................................................................................................................................................................... 5
DISTRIBUTION ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6
2. Consumer behaviors
CONSUMER TRENDS ........................................................................................................................................................... 7
HOW THE CORONAVIRUS IMPACTS THE AUDIOBOOK USAGE ........................................................................... 10
3. A look at the future
FUTURE TRENDS ................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Technology .................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Demographics ............................................................................................................................................................. 11
Distribution .................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Other trends ................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13
4. Sources .......................................................................................................................................................... 14
About the author ........................................................................................................................................... 16
About the data partner ................................................................................................................................ 16
Imprint ............................................................................................................................................................ 16
2 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm
1. An overall look at the global market today
and factors that are driving growth
THE MARKET TODAY
While audiobooks are still a is Canada. More than 61% of Cana- NEW SALES MODELS:
relatively small segment of the book dian publishers are now producing With this growth comes more
publishing market when compared digital audiobooks — up from 37% in diversification in digital delivery
with print and e-books, worldwide 2016.4 sales models, resulting in the medium
this slice of the publishing pie has becoming more accessible to a
seen double-digit sales and market New Digital Distributors: greater range of users. The spread
growth for at least the past 5+ years. A wave of new digital dis- of audiobooks to sites that previ-
According to Deloitte, the global tributors has emerged in the past ously had primarily targeted music
audiobook market is predicted decade, helping broaden the listeners, podcast listeners and e-book
to grow by 25% in 2020 to $3.5 billion consumer reach of the format. readers (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music,
USD and it is estimated that the While Audible (founded in 1995) YouTube Music, Deezer, Tencent, and
number of current audiobook con- has dominated the audiobook Tidal) show just how widespread the
sumers across the globe exceeds distribution market for more than audiobook phenomenon is – and
half a billion.1 Gone are the days two decades, there have been many how it is capturing consumers that
where audiobooks are relegated new audiobook services launched in were previously not considered
to a niche market like large print, the past few years – either brand- ‘traditional audiobook readers’. For
and publishers in Europe and else- new or as an extension of already example, Zebralution reported in
where are increasingly attuned to existing digital delivery services for January 2020 more than 2 million
the demands and desires of readers other formats like music. BookBeat, music streaming subscribers play-
who listen to their offerings. Kobo, Nextory, Playster, Scribd and ing audiobooks.8 In total there
Storytel are just some of the sub- were 310m subscribers to music
scription streaming services adding centric services globally in the end
revenue to traditional download of 2019 – a huge market that is only
TRENDS models such as Audible. Many of beginning to be tapped.9
these new services are flourishing,
Several trends have contributed showing double-digit growth (see
to the market growth of audiobooks figure 1):
which has also been fueled by
changes in consumer habits in the
way audiobooks are accessed and
Figure 1 US audiobook publishing
listened to: 5-year growth
Increased Title Count:
Audiobook Titles Published
Publishers are publishing more
audiobook titles overall. According 2018
to a 2018 sales survey of members
of the US Audio Publishers Associa-
tion, title production from 2014-2018 2017
almost doubled2: Growth in titles is
not just a US phenomenon but has 2016
been mirrored globally. Accord-
ing to a report by Livres Canada in
2018, the number of titles being pub- 2015
lished globally has been skyrocket-
ing.3 Many publishers are not only in- 2014
creasing the number of frontlist titles
being simultaneously issued in print
and audio, but they are also digging 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000
into their backlists to find additional Source: 2018 APA Sales Survey Data from Management Practice Inc
titles to release in the audio format.
Increased In-House Publishing: ⁄ Nextory: 94% in growth in Q1 of 2020 5 New User Experiences:
More publishers are starting audio ⁄ Storytel — reporting a 45% increase With these new consumers come
divisions vs. licensing out titles to in revenue in Q1 2020 for both changes to how audiobooks are
audio production and distribution e-book and audiobook sales 6 experienced. Now augmenting
companies. One country that has ⁄ BookBeat – grew by 114% to EUR traditional download models is the
seen remarkable growth in this area 30 million (SEK 311 million) in 2019 7 growing popularity of Streaming-
3 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm
1. An overall look at the global market today and factors that are driving growth
Books-On-Demand (SBOD) Models,
which offer monthly subscriptions
Figure 2 Device
to reader-listeners. These new con- Audiobook streaming usage in %
sumers are both more familiar and
arguably more comfortable with 100% 1%
3%
2% 4%
7% 6%
streaming media than owning it. 4%
Streaming media does not place a 90% 6% 6%
9%
file in a device’s memory and lowers 80% 11% 11%
the barrier to access more content
for a fixed price point, especially 70%
through unlimited subscription ser-
vices. It’s therefore not surprising to 60%
see that audiobooks being available
to consumers at more affordable 50%
rates driving the growth of SBOD 83% 76% 77%
models and increasing the number 40%
of listeners.
30%
20%
TECHNOLOGY
10%
Growth is also being fueled by
advances in and the spread of tech- 0%
nology. In numerous surveys, con- Germany UK US
sumers report that one of the Phone Tablet PC Connected Others
reasons they like listening to
audiobooks is that they can multi- Source: Zebralution Audiobook Analytics, Data Q1 2020 based on streams
task while listening, thus allowing
them to ‘read’ more books. And as their territories, used by between 76% voice-activated convenience of these
described below, advances in how and 83% of their subscribers. Tab- devices (“Alexa, play my audiobook”)
audiobooks can be accessed lets were a distant second place has been a huge factor in how peo-
are making multitasking easier than in all territories, but with double ple experience all forms of media.
ever. the usage compared to PCs. While In a Content Marketing Institute
the consumer bases for each of article it was predicted that in 2019
Ian Small, CEO of Audiobooks.com, these charts is not exactly compa- smart speakers would increasingly
puts it this way: rable, they show similar results in the impact the global audiobook world,
“What we know for sure is that con- preferences for devices used to listen with 24% of listeners saying they had
nected devices and spaces are be- to audiobooks. listened on a smart speaker and
coming more mainstream, and with five percent saying they listen most
them, new listening opportunities in Smart Speakers often on a smart speaker.11 For smart
new environments. With the more are also changing the game. It’s no speaker owners in the US market,
recent adoption of smartwatches, exaggeration to suggest that the two out of three say they listen to at
smart home speakers and other
connected devices, audiobooks are
able to integrate with people’s life-
Figure 3
Usage by device
styles more than ever before.“10 Device by territory in %
At home use has quickly become the Smartphones
most important location for listening.
The ever-increasing IoT (Internet Bluetooth connected
of Things) and proliferation of smart through speaker
devices means that it has never
been easier to listen to audiobooks. Desktop/laptop computer
Smartphones Tablet
have become the number one device CD player
consumers use to listen to audio.
The following graph (figure 3) on the Portable MP3 player/iPod
right side shows research from the
US APA consumer survey of 2019: Voice-enabled
A look at data from Zebralution’s wireless speaker
subscription-based consumers from 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Germany, the US and the UK shows
the phone was also dominant in all Source: 2019 APA Consumer Data from Edison Research
4 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm
1. An overall look at the global market today and factors that are driving growth
least one audiobook or podcast a China’s market Much of this growth in revenue
week on their device. 12 is second to the US, and it is gen- has been fueled by growth in
In other global territories in 2019 erally agreed that the US and Chi- available titles – in 2019, the pub-
it was reported that smart speakers na make up about 75% of the global lishers participating in a survey
are most widely used in the UK, at audio market. According to a report expected to produce 2,300 new
22.4% of internet users, followed by in the Shanghai Daily, its market is titles in Spanish, representing a
Germany (17.2%) and France (14.0%).13 expected to be about $1.15 billion 250% growth in 3 years.24
in 2020 – more than double its size
in 2017.16 According to researcher ⁄ Nordic Countries (Sweden,
iiMedia, China is expected to have Denmark, Finland, Norway) have
562 million audiobook users in 2020.17 a market estimated to be at
In 2017 40% of the units sold were for $100 million.25 These countries
children.18 lead the European audiobook
market. In a tnps September 2018
Europe’s market report, digital subscriptions (pow-
is about $500 million19: ered by audiobooks) were the
fastest growing model in book
⁄ France: According to a March 2019 publishing in this territory, increas-
report in The New Publishing ing by 36.9% over the prior year.
Standard (tnps) newsletter, there According to Mark Williams (ed-
are 7.7 million audiobook users in itor of tnps), there is the distinct
Amanda D’Acierno, France and 51% of these are first possibility that in the not too dis-
President and Publisher, timers.20 tant future, the preferred format
Penguin Random House Audio At last year’s Frankfurt Audio Summit of book consumers in Scandinavia
Publishing Group at Frankfurter Buchmesse, will be audio.26
Amanda D’Acierno sums up the tech- ⁄ In the UK, Deloitte has predicted
nological changes affecting rapid that for 2020 audibooks will
growth of audiobooks: generate revenues of £115 milion,
“Digital technologies, from iPods, up 30% from 2018.27 UK sales have
to smartphones, tablets, and smart doubled every year for the past
speakers, have allowed audiobooks five years, while at the same time
to reach anyone, anywhere, at any there has been a decline in the UK
time. As more listeners adopted of print and e-book sales.28
the audio format, they formed new
habits that went beyond the tradi- Other countries of interest to
tional use case of listening on their watch as ripe for audiobook growth
commutes and road trips: audio- include India because of its rich
book devotees can and do listen Valérie Lévy-Soussan, tradition of oral storytelling coupled
while doing the dishes, folding the founding director general, with the fact that it has one of the
laundry, working on a craft project, Hachette Livre’s Audiolib highest daily commute times in the
running on the treadmill or to wind world. Russia is also seen as having
down before bed.” Valérie Lévy-Soussan stated that tremendous potential given its vast
beginning in 2019, 14% of audio- geographical footprint and the
book users in the French pop- fact that mobile applications have
ulation are in the 15-and-older allowed audiobooks to reach remote
SIZE OF MARKET age bracket, up two points cities that many books in print can’t
compared to 2018.21 France is reach. The news is good when busi-
The size of the global audiobook considered to be among Europe’s nesses enter emerging markets.
market is difficult to gauge as sta- most rapidly developing markets.22 For example, Turkey has seen rap-
tistics about the same data points id growth, with Storytel reporting a
are hard to come by. Nevertheless, ⁄ Germany: In 2019 it was reported 315% increase in consumption in 2019
a sense of the size of the audio- that there were about 16 million only a year after launch.29
book market can be discerned from units sold annually with young
known market statistics by territory. listeners driving “significant
growth”. Germany is considered
The United States one of the strongholds for audio-
is the biggest market in the audio- books in the European market.23
book segment with sales predicted
to be at $1.5 billion in 2020.14 In data ⁄ Spain: According to the March
from Edison’s 2019 Infinite Dial Survey15, 2019 study “Profile of the Spanish
it was reported that 50% of the US Audiobook Market”, it was pre-
population ages 12+ have listened to dicted that sales in Spain would
an audiobook. be as high as 7 million Euros.
5 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm
1. An overall look at the global market today and factors that are driving growth
DISTRIBUTION
In recent years there has been
a shift towards new formats for
consumers to access audiobooks.
When audiobooks first came onto
the scene their primary medium was
physical CDs; but today the pre-
ferred format is digital, with the US
Audio Publisher’s Association report-
ing in 2019 that 91.4% of audiobook
revenues come from this format.30
Digital delivery subscription models
that offer titles through download are
still recognized as the dominant for-
mat for purchasing audiobooks, and
the largest purveyor of this model is
Audible with their credit distribution
approach. In this model a subscriber
Frankfurt Audio Stage at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019
pays a monthly fee for which they
are granted ‘credits’ to use in their
purchase of each book they want
to read.
Access to audiobooks through ⁄ Audiobooks are fighting for the Oliver Beldham, Account Manager
streaming and unlimited subscription time of users against Netflix, mu- at Nielsen Book Research, has said:
models is currently an up and coming sic and other media. Bringing au- “Audiobook growth is an encour-
model beginning to make significant diobooks to users instead of users aging sign that the book consum-
inroads in the market alongside to audiobooks brings direct value er in 2017 had a good appetite for
the download/credit subscription to audiobooks and authors. content in many formats. The differ-
or A la Carte purchase model ap- ing consumer profile also shows the
proach and will continue to grow in ⁄ The volume of subscribers will reach that audio formats can have
importance as a means of audio make up for the income lost on a among buyers beyond the tradi-
distribution. These seem to be more single title purchase offered in the tional book customer.”31
widely accepted by European more established download sub-
publishers vs. publishers in the West scription services. Claire Thorp, a reporter for BBC
(primarily US and Canada) and the Culture, summed up the situation
UK. ⁄ It allows for a greater reach to this way:
young listeners who can’t afford “While audiobook sales are up
Arguments in favor of download premium prices, and for a more and physical book sales down, it’s
sales typically include: diverse diverse user base, coming not a given that the two things are
from music-centric services as an related. In fact, audio is pulling in
⁄ The value of the audiobook is example. new audiences – whether that’s lis-
upheld. teners who don’t usually buy books,
⁄ Authors are more fairly compen- Although audiobooks are still or readers listening to genres in an
sated. in third place as a means of book audio format that they wouldn’t
access behind print books and pick up in print.”32
Those in favor of streaming argue e-books, it is generally agreed that
that: the growth of the global audiobook
market is not detracting from other
⁄ The model supports heavily back- book format sales but in fact in-
list, too, so people can easily dive creasing the overall book market.
into the authors backlist and
become a fan
6 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm
2. Consumer behaviors
Understanding the needs of con- CONSUMER TRENDS title steadily increases on a month-
sumers is a key element in grasp- In particular it confirms several in- to-month basis.
ing the dynamics of any market, in- formative trends reflected by other The lack of publicly accessible
cluding audiobooks. In light of the studies referenced previously: data has bedeviled the audio-
popularity of unlimited subscrip- book industry since its inception.
tion streaming models in the music ⁄ The youth demographic is However, one of the great gifts of
industry a closer look at that trend dominant among audiobook streaming digital products is usage
in audiobooks seems warranted. By users, with the 18-44 age range data.
taking a closer look at one compa- as the ‘sweet spot’.
ny’s data, we can get a better sense Nils Hollmann,
of the potential for this format and ⁄ There exist similarities in user be- Managing Director Audiobooks,
for audiobooks in general. haviors across territories. Zebralution:
“Streaming-enabled data gath-
The following findings have been ⁄ Popularity of Mystery, Thriller and
pulled from Zebralution’s Audiobook Suspense as the most dominant
Analytic. Their clients include some of genres.
the biggest publishers in the UK, the
US, the Netherlands and Germany.
The company works globally with The data reveals other useful
all relevant streaming and down- trends worth noting:
load services, both ones from the
book world like Apple Books, Google ⁄ the slight dominance of female to
Books, BookBeat, Storytel and male users
OverDrive as well as music-centric
services like Spotify, Apple Music, ⁄ the categories of Fiction and
YouTube, Deezer and Napster. While Self-Help being mainly female
this data is from a distinct pool of driven, while male users prefer ering is giving us valuable insights
Zebralution’s users, which includes Science Fiction and Comedy into customer behavior nearly in
user data based on 2.24 million real-time to support our publishers’
subscribers from music-centric ⁄ highest completion rates in the decisions in content selection,
streaming services from Germany genres of Teen/Young Adult and production and marketing. We are
(2.0 million subscribers), the US Children’s content. not only seeing usage on a daily
(165,000 subscribers) and the UK basis – we are able to see how many
(73,000 subscribers) the findings mir- Perhaps the most interesting reve- users actually have been listening
ror assumptions gleaned from other lation comes from the product life to a specific genre, author, narrator
global news sources covered in this cycle data, revealing that over a or title, and also at which sections
paper. 24-month period the popularity of a people stopped an audiobook and
how many users completed a title.
Furthermore, data about the de-
Figure 4:
Age mographics of our users and about
when, where and how content has
Usage in the top 3 territories in % been streamed provides further in-
Q1
Q12020
Q1 2020 2020 formation about consumer habits.”
35% 35%
35%
31% 31%31% A deeper dive into Zebralution’s
29%
29%
30% 30%
30% 29%
28% 28%28% information will hopefully prove to
be useful as well as inspire others to
25% 25%
25%
21%22%
22%
23% 23%
23% share their data more broadly.
21% 22%
21% 21% 21%21%21%
21% 21%
19%
19%
20% 20%
20% 18% 18%
18%
19%
18% 18%18% In looking at age, in all three territo-
15% 15%
15% ries audiobook streaming usage was
13% 13%
13%
highest in the 25-34 age range, with
9% 10%
9%9%10%
10%
the largest percentage of users fall-
10% 10%
10% 9% 9%
9%
ing within the overall age range of
4% 4%
4%
5% 5%
5%
3% 3%
3% 18-44. (Figure 4)
1% 1%1%
0% 0%
0%
0-17 0-17
0-17 18-2418-24
18-24 25-3425-34
25-34 35-44
35-4435-44 45-54
45-5445-54 > 54
>54 years
>54
>54
DE DE
DE
UK
Germany UK
UK
US US
US
Source: Zebralution Audiobook Analytics, based on Streams Q2 2020
7 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm
2. Consumer behaviors
In all three territories usage by gen-
der reveals females make up slight-
Figure 5: Gender ly more than 50% of the users, with
Usage by gender in the top 3 territories in % their share increasing in the last
year, particularly in the US. (Figure 5)
(Q2 2019 vs. Q2 2020)
Q2
Q1 2019
Q1 2020
2019 Q2
Q1
Q1
Q1 2020
2020
Q12019
2019
2019 Q1
Q1
Q12020
2020
2020
100%
100% 100%
100%
100%
100% 100%
100%
100%
90%
90% 90%
90%
90%
90% 90%
90%
90%
80%
80% 80%
80%
80%
80% 80%
80%
80%
53% 51%
52% 53% 54%
54%
54% 51%
51%
51%
52% 53%
53%
53% 52%
52%
52%
54%
55% 55%
55% 52% 55%
55%
55%
70%
70% 59% 70%
70%
70%
70% 59% 70%
70%
70% 59%
59%
59%
60%
60% 60%
60%
60%
60% 60%
60%
60%
50%
50% 50%
50%
50%
50% 50%
50%
50%
40%
40% 40%
40%
40%
40% 40%
40%
40%
30%
30% 30%
30%
30%
30% 30%
30%
30%
47% 46%
46% 49% 47%
47% 46%
46%
46%
49%
49%
49% 47%
47%
47%
45% 48% 45% 48%
48%
45%
45%
45% 48%
48%
48%
20% 41% 20%
20%
20% 41% 41%
41%
41%
20% 20% 20%
20%
20%
10% 10%
10%
10%
10% 10% 10%
10%
10%
0% 0%
0%
0%
0% 0% 0%
0%
0%
US DE
DE UK
UK US
US DE
DE
DE
DE UK
UK
UK
UK US
US
US
US DEDE
DE UKUK
UK USUS
US
Male Female Male
Male
Male Female
Male Female
Female
Female Male
Male
Male Female
Female
Female
Source: Zebralution Audiobook Analytics, based on Streams Q2 2020
Looking at the two most popular
genres, 55% of the Crime & Fiction
%
Figure 6: Genre by age and 49% of the Fiction users are
3% 4%
Usage in % 6% 25-44 years old.
11% 9% 10% 10% 9%
11% ⁄ Fiction users are younger than
% 16% 14% Crime & Thriller readers, and 20%
00%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100% 14%
3% 3% 3%3%3%3% 3%3% 3%
4% 4% 4%4%4% 4% 4%4%4%
9% 9% 9%9%9%
6% 6% 6%6%6%
9% 9%9%9%
6% 6%6%6%
9% 9% 9%9%9%9% 9%9%9% 16%
of the Fiction users are 18-24 years
11%11%11%11%11%
11%11%11%11%
11% 11%11%
11%11%
11%11%11%11% 10%10%10%
10%
10%
10%10%10%
10%10%10%10%
10%
10%
10%10%10%10%
%
21% 19%
20% 20%
18% old.
90%90%90%
90%
90%
90%90%90%
90% 16%16%16%
16%
16%
16%16%16% 16%
100%
14% 14%14%
14%
14%
14%14% 14%14%
14%14%14%14%
14%
14% 14%
14%14% ⁄ Fantasy users are much young-
3%3%
18%4%
16%16%16%16% er than Sci-Fi users with twice
4%
9%
9% 6%
6%
16%
9% 16%16%
9% 16%
16%
% 80%
80% 80%
80%
80%
80%80%80%
80%
11%
11% 11%
11% 20%20%20%
20%
20%
20%20%
20%20% 10%
10%
19%20%20%20%
10%
10%
18% 18%18%
18%
18%
18%18%
18%18%
19% 19%19%
19%19%
19%19%19%19% 20%
20%
20%20%
20%
20%
21%21%21%21%
90%
21%
21%21%21%21%
16%
16% 21%
14% as high share of 18-24 and 61%
14%
14%
38%
18%18%18%18%18%
18%18%18%18%
19%19%19%19%
19%
19%19%
19%19% 16%
16%
younger than 35.
22%
70%70%70%
70%
70%
70%70%70%
70% 19% 20% 18%
18%
(Figure 6)
80% 20%
% 21%
21% 19%
19% 22% 20%
20%
26%
23% 27%
38%38%38%
38%
38%
38%38%38%
38% 18%
18% 22%22%22%
22%
22%
22%22%
22%
22%
60%60%60%
60%
60%
60%60%
60%
60%70% 19%19%19%
19%
19%
19%19%19%19% 21% 22%22%22%
22%
22%
22%22% 22% 19%
22% 19%
26%26%26%
26%
26%
26%26%
26%
26%
% 23%23%23%
23%
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23%23%
23%23% 27%27%27%
27%
27%
27%27%
27%
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38%
38%21%21%21%
21%
21%
21%21%21%21% 22%
22%
60% 19%
19%
22%
22% 26%
26%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%
50%50%
50%
50% 34%
23%
23%
27%
27%
% 21%
21%
50% 34%34%34%
34%
34%
34%34%
34%
34%
40%
40%
40%
40%
40%
40%40%
40%
40% 30% 15%
28% 34%
34% 35%
30%30%
30%
30%
30%
30%30%
30%
30%
15%15%15%
15%
15%
15%15%15%15%
40% 28%28%28%
28%
28%
28%28%
28%
28% 35%35%35%
35%
35%
35%35%
35%
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% 32% 34%
30%
30% 15%
15% 29%
30%30%30%
30%
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32% 30%
32%30%
32%
32%
32%
32%32%
32%
32% 28%
28% 34%34%34%
34%
34%
34%34%35%
35%
34%34%
37% 29%29%29%
29%
29%
29%29%
29%
29%
30% 32%
32% 34%
34%
37%37%37%
37%
37%
37%37%
37%
37%
29%
29%
% 37%
37%
20%20%20%
20%
20%
20%20%
20%
20%
20% 24%
24%24%24%
24%
24%
24%24%
24%
24%
25%25%25%
25%
25% 25%
25%25%
25%
25%
24%
24%
20%
20%20%
20%
20%
20%
20%20%
20%
20% 19%19%19%
19% 19%19%19%19%
19%
19%
25%
25%
%
10%10%10%
10%
10%
10%10%10%10%
10% 20%
20% 19%
19% 16% 16%16%
16%
16%
16%16%16%16% 16%
12%12%12%
12% 12%
12%
12%12%12%12% 12%12%12%
12% 12%
12%
12%12%12%12%
12%
12% 12%12%
12%
12% 16%
16%
12%12%12%12%
12%
12% 12% 12%
12% 12%
6% 6% 6%6%6%6%
6%6%6%6%
4% 4% 4%4%4% 4%4%4%
4%4% 4% 6% 6% 2% 2% 2% 2%2%2% 2%2% 2% 1%
2% 1% 1%1%1%1%1%1% 1% 1%
1%1%
1%1% 1%1%1%1% 1% 1% 1%
1% 1% 4% 2% 2% 2%2%2%
2% 2%2% 2% 2%
2%
1%0%
1% 1%1% 1%1% 1% 1% 1% 2%
2% 0%1%0%0%0%0% 0%0%0% 1%
1%0%
1% 1%1%1%1% 1% 1% 1%
1%0%
0% 0%0%0%0%
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1%
% 1% Crime
1%Thriller
& Thriller Fiction Children's Teens &Comedy
YA
2%
Comedy 0% 1%
Crime
Crime
Crime
&Crime
Thriller
&Crime
Crime
Thriller
& Crime
&
Thriller
Thriller
&Crime
&Thriller
Crime
Thriller
&Fiction
Thriller
& Fiction
Thriller
& Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Children's
Fiction
Children's
Fiction
Children's
Children's
Children's
Children's
Children's
Children's
Teens
Children's
Teens
Teens
&Teens
YA
&
Teens
Teens
YA
& Teens
&
YAYA
&
Teens
&YA
Teens
YA
&Comedy
YA
& Comedy
YA
&Comedy
YA
Comedy
Comedy
Comedy
Comedy
Fantas
ComedyyFantas
Fantas
Fantas yyScience
Fantas
Fantas
y Fantas
Fantas Science
y Fantas
yScience
yFantas
ScienceyFiction
yScience
Fiction
yScience
Science
Fiction
Science
Fiction
Fiction
Science Self-Help
Fiction
Science
Fiction
Self-Help
Fiction
Self-Help
Fiction
Self-Help
Fiction
Self-Help Non-Fiction
Self-Help
Self-Help
Self-Help
Non-Fiction
Self-Help
Self-Help
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
Crime & Thriller Fiction Children's Teens
54
Fantas y Science Fiction Self-Help Non-Fiction
54
>54
54 years
Source: Zebralution Audiobook Analytics, based on Streams Q2 2020
8 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm
90%
86% 86%
2. Consumer behaviors
82% 82%
80%
73% 73%
73% 73%
70%
Figure71%
7:
68% 68%
71%
68% 68% Genre by gender and age 69% 69%
67% 62% 67% 62%
90% 65% 65% female share
64%
in %64%
64%
66% 66%
64% 64% 64% 64%
90% 90% 86% 64%
90% 86% 86% 62% 62% 62% 61% 62% 61%
90% 82% 60%
86% 60% 59% 60% 60%
60% 82% 82%
86% 59%
57% 90% 80% 57% 82%
57% 57% 57% 53%
80% 90%80% 86% 82% 55% 56% 57% 56% 53% 55%
90% 80% 55%
86% 73% 73% 53% 55% 53%
53% 80%53% 82% 53% 53%
52%73% 52% 86% 71% 73% 73% 52%
52% 51% 52% 51% 52%
51% 73% 73%
51% 82%
73% 51%
71% 68%
68% 71%73% 51% 51% 51% 69%
% 50% 73% 50%
70%
80% 82% 67% 62% 49%
68% 71% 49% 65%49% 42% 49% 42%
73% 68% 73% 69% 69%
71% 49%
50%
68% 70% 49%
80% 70% 68% 69% 66%
67% 67%62% 62%
69%
% 68% 80% 70% 68%71%68%
73% 65% 65% 67%
69%66% 62% 64%64% 66% 66% 64%64%
65% 73% 68% 68% 69%67% 62%62%
% 46% 70% 73% 71% 73% 64%64%
62% 65% 67%
66%
62%
64% 64%
64% 64%
64%64% 45% 45% 67% 66% 62% 64%64%
61% 64% 64%
62%
65%
73% 68% 71% 73%
68%
60%
64%64% 62% 65% 62% 59% 62% 61%64%64% 64%64% 69% 62% 62%
66% 61% 64% 60%
61%64% 44% 44%
60%
70% 60% 43%
68% 43% 62% 61%64%64%
60% 62% 57% 62% 64% 64%60% 62% 60% 60% 42%
60% 70%
60% 62% 57% 59% 71% 68% 57%
60% 56%62%65%
59% 59% 61% 53% 55%
67%
69%
66% 62%62%61% 60% 42%
60% 55% 67%
60%
57% 70% 60%
57% 57% 59% 68% 68% 40% 55%57%55% 40%
57% 57% 57% 59% 64%64%53% 53% 53%
60% 69% 66% 64%64% 60%
56%
52%
53%
57%57% 60%
57% 53% 56% 56%65%
55% 57%39%51%59% 39% 53% 52% 55%
53%55%55% 67% 62%
66% 62% 61% 64%64%53%
53%
40%55%55%57% 60% 52% 56%53% 57%
50% 53%51%
57% 55%57%
60% 51%
53% 52% 56%
53% 62%
65%
62% 57%
55%
64%64%53%51%
53%53% 53% 62% 64% 53%
52% 52%
49% 53% 51% 51% 55% 52%53%
52%52%
56% 49%
51% 59%51% 64% 64% 51% 52%
51% 52%
55% 64% 60% 53%42%
61% 49%
51%50%
60% 52%
50% 50% 57% 51% 51% 51% 52%
60% 62% 53%
53%52% 62% 60%
52%49% 53% 51% 49%59% 61% 49%
60% 49% 49% 51% 57% 51% 51% 52% 57%
34%
49% 51%
34% 34% 31% 53% 51% 49% 53%
42% 42% 49%49%
50% 46%
51%50% 52%50%
49%
57%51%
49%
55% 60%
57% 51%
56%
52%
56% 57% 34%
49% 51%
59% 31% 33% 31% 33% 53%51%
53% 42%55% 45%
52%
49%
60%
42% 44%
60% 50%46% 46% 50%53% 55% 55%
42%
52% 57%
49% 57% 43% 57% 49% 31% 53% 51% 53% 45% 45% 53% 42% 42% 49%
50% 46% 53%51% 55% 51% 40%
52%
43% 56%
45% 51%
30%
52%
55% 44% 45% 53% 44% 44%
43%46%52%
50% 53%
49% 51% 51% 43%
43%
52% 45%49% 51% 30%
39% 53%
51% 52% 42% 45% 44% 53% 42%
42% 44%42%
49%
40%
50% 43% 50%49% 51% 40% 40% 42%44%49%
30% 40% 52%
50%46% 39% 51%
52%
40% 43% 49%
51% 39% 39% 51% 52% 42% 42%
42%
40% 40%50%
40% 49% 39% 45% 49%
49% 39% 40% 34% 31% 42% 44%
50% 40% 46% 43% 34% 34%
34%
39% 31%
31% 33%
33% 25%45% 25% 42% 44%
40%
46% 34% 34% 31% 34% 34% 31% 33%
33% 40% 43% 34% 31% 31% 30%
31%
45% 42%
44%
34% 34% 31% 31% 40% 39% 34% 33%
30%
40% 33% 43% 34% 39% 31% 30%
31% 30% 42%
31%30% 34% 33%
30% 40%30% 30%
40%
39% 31% 30% 25% 14% 14%
34% 34% 31% 30%
20% 40% 30%
25% 34% 34% 33%
31% 31% 33% 25% 25%
30% 16%
25% 34% 34% 31% 31%30% 16%25%25%
15% 16%
14%16% 15%
20%
30%
14% 31%
33%
30% 14% 14% 14% 14%
20% 30%20% 30% 16% 14%15% 16%
14% 25%
30% 20% 16% 14% 16% 15%16%15%16%
14%
20%
16% 15%16% 25%
14% 14%15%16%
16%
14%
16% 15%16% 25% 14%
10% 14% 16% 14% 15%16%
20%10% 14%14%
10% 20%10% 16% 14% 15%16%
20% 10% 14%
16% 15%16%
10% 16% 14% 16%
15%
14%
10%0%
0% 0%10% 0% Crime & Thriller Fiction Children's Teens & YA Comedy Fantas y Science Fiction Self-Help Non-Fiction
10% 0% Crime Crime & Teens
Thriller
Crime
Children's
rime & Thriller & Thriller
0% Fiction & YAFictionFiction
& Thriller Fiction
Comedy
Children's
Children's
Children's Children's
Fantas&
Teens
Teens
y YATeens & YA &
Teens
&
ScienceYA YA
Fiction
Comedy
Comedy
ComedyComedy
Self-HelpFantas
Fantas y
Fantas
Fantas
Non-Fiction
y Fantas
y
y Science
y Science
FictionFiction
Science
Science
Fiction Fiction Fiction
Self-Help
Self-Help
Self-Help Self-Help
Self-Help
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
on Children's Crime & Thriller
Teens & YA FictionComedy Children's
Fantas y 54 Total
Non-Fiction Science
Crime & Thriller Fiction Children's 54 yTotal Science Fiction Self-Help Non-Fiction
0% 54 Total
>54 54 Total Total
0% Crime & Thriller
2. Consumer behaviors
Streaming Product Life Cycle:
Figure 10: Average monthly share of 20 best-
Streaming Product Life Cycle: sellers in the first 24 months after re-
lease per month in streaming:
Average monthly share of ⁄ Immediately upon release usage
20 bestsellers in the first 24 months peaked driven by distribution mar-
keting and the marketing impact
6%
after release in streaming per month of the Zebralution tools like app,
5%
5%
voice, and playlists.
5%
⁄ Generally, share per month in the
5%
5% 5% 5%
5% 5%
5%
5% 5%
5% 5%
5%
4%
4%
5%
5% 5%
5%
5%
24-month period increased, from
4%
4%
4%
4%
3-4% per month in the first year to
4%
more than 5% in the second.
4% 4% 4%
4%
4% 4%
4% 4%
4% 3%
3% 3%
3%
3% 3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
⁄ Usage increased almost monthly
3%
3%
(excluding the initial market-
2%
ing bump factor) which is differ-
ent than the product life circle in
download sales.
1%
0%
Month: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Source: Zebralution Audiobook Analytics, 2018-2020
HOW THE CORONAVIRUS IMPACTS THE AUDIOBOOK USAGE
Zebralution has some intriguing the Home-Office Self-Help genre people were now listening to our
data from the first weeks after the developed well (e.g. Power workout in content while doing chores, for early
lockdown due to the Covid-19 pan- 10min, Meditation, and Home Office morning mindfulness, pre-bedtime
demic. On a worldwide basis, the on- related Self-Help audiobooks). relaxation, and/or short, screen-
set of the pandemic at first caused free mental health breaks through-
audiobook usage to drop, but once Smart speaker usage went up out the work day.” 34
the realities of stay-at-home orders 18% in the four weeks since lockdown
sunk in with consumers, usage be- (compared to before). While the This shift in consumer behavior
gan to surge. This trend offers reas- share of kids content on smart speak- during the pandemic is also
surances that the audiobook indus- ers surprisingly did not relatively echoed by statistics from BookBeat.
try will weather the changes wrought increase that much, the absolute
by the global pandemic. share of smart speakers for kids con-
tent is generally more than three
In the first week of the lockdown times higher than for other content.
in Germany (Monday, March 16th),
usage initially declined among us- Numerous sources have com-
ers in Zebralution’s user base, but mented on the resiliency of both
increased during the week end- e-books and audiobooks during
ing with the same usage as the the pandemic, especially in the face
four-week-average before the lock- of the general unavailability of phys-
down. Prior to the lockdown, Monday ical books. In the Live Mint newslet-
and Tuesday had been the strongest ter from India, the prediction is made
and the weekend days the lowest that audiobooks will eventually su-
days, but since the lockdown, the persede e-books due to their con- CEO, Niclas Sandin of BookBeat
average usage is more similar every venience of use and their ability to reports that:
day. let a listener do something else while “The big shift we see is that we’ve
listening.33 lost the commuter peaks. They’ve
But what people are listening to been replaced by more listening
has changed significantly, seem- Shailesh Sawlani, Country Head, at other times during the day. Over-
ingly linked to schools being closed Audible India thinks that customers all, the average listening levels
and children being home. Children’s are finding new ways to incorporate are the same and in some markets
and Teens titles increased heavily audiobooks and audio content into even higher than before. We actually
(+36% and 17% respectively), whereas their lifestyles. He reports that: had the highest listening hours ever
strong adult genres (Comedy and “Instead of a peak in listening for BookBeat on the Monday after
Self-Help) decreased. Unsurprisingly, during morning and evening commute, the Easter weekend.” 35
10 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm3. A look at the future
Although the audiobook market ers or even transition fully to digital Demographics
had been enjoying a consid- afterwards... Audiobooks have widespread
erable uptick, with the advent To be clear, there’s no suggestion appeal to younger audiences,
of the coronavirus pandemic this will be an extinction-event for making them a delivery format for
audiobook listening has seen print – but when this is over and we the future. The 2019 APA Consum-
a considerable surge. Accord- return to whatever the ‘new normal’ er Survey showed 55% of all audio-
ing to tnps’s editor Mark Williams may be, digital books will play a far book listeners are under the age of
in a report published in April of larger part in the lives of consumers 45, and 51% of frequent listeners are
this year, one of the hardest-hit and publishers than we could ever between 18 and 44 years old.
countries — Spain — saw 50,000 have imagined as this new decade be-
transitions to digital reading gan just a few short months ago.”37 Amanda D’Acierno, President and
(e-books and audiobooks) in just Publisher, Penguin Random House
three weeks in March. During the first Even before the pandemic, all signs Audio Publishing Group, is partic-
few months (March-April 2020) of the pointed to the continued growth of ularly buoyed by what she sees:
Covid-19 pandemic, Spotify reports the global audiobook market. No
that audiobook consumption is up one is sure when the crest will peak, “I’m most excited by the growth in the
17%, while on the subscription plat- but in gazing into the future, the fol- number of young people listening to
form Nubico content consumption is lowing trends trends will certainly audiobooks, who are creating hab-
up 32%. Libranda is reporting a 50% play a significant role in the growth its that last a lifetime and will be
increase in digital book engage- of audiobooks. passed along to future generations
ment, while Kobo says audiobooks of listeners.”
on its platform are up 254%.36
FUTURE TRENDS Keeping an eye on this younger
What will the reading world demographic and their preferences
be like after the crisis ends Technology for emerging audio content interests
(or at least abates)? Smart speakers will continue to as well as their mode of consump-
proliferate, which makes audio- tion and purchase habits will be im-
Will consumers’ habits of rely- books increasingly easier to access. portant for publishers to follow and
ing on the digital format ‘stick’ after According to Deloitte, “smart speakers adapt to. In many cases, this will also
some normalcy returns and easier are expected to achieve more than require publishers to push the enve-
access to print books returns? Peo- 25 percent market penetration in lope of what type of works could be
ple were increasingly turning to dig- the US and urban China by 2020.”38 considered candidates for an audio
ital before the pandemic, but what Data from Strategy Analytics show format such as graphic novels or au-
the ‘new normal’ will be – especially that over one in five UK households dio first (non-book based) content.
in the light of the economic down- had a smart speaker as of the end
turn – is the big question. of June 2019 which translates into Distribution
5.8 million households and a reach The diversity of various digital
of over 10 million users. Germany has sales formats suggests that pub-
also passed 11% with smart speak- lishers might re-examine distribution
ers in 4.8 million households with a models such as subscription stream-
population of about 9.5 million po- ing sales. Platforms have shown
tential users. Households in Ireland the rising popularity of streaming
are nearing 10% while France trails sales in their music centric customer
at 7.4%.39 universe. What happened to the
music industry might serve as a
Advances in technology will con- corrective to dire predictions that
tinue to drive the medium forward, no one will pay for audiobooks any-
not only in usability but also in pro- more if streaming becomes the
duction quality. Technologies such norm. What happens may simply
as Sonos (a popular multi-room be viewed as a shifting paradigm
Javier Celaya audio system) will allow consumers whereby people are no longer
CEO and founder, Dosdoce.com a more pleasurable listening experi- paying to own audiobooks, but are
ence as high fidelity listening will be paying for access to audiobooks.
He put it in an Op-Ed for Dosdoce: available wherever they want to listen. In 2009, U.S recorded music rev-
“The longer the pandemic crisis And with bigger sales, the quality of enues were at $7.8b. Ten years lat-
continues, the longer dedicated narrations will continue to improve er with the rise of streaming services,
print readers have to migrate to as is evidenced by the recent waves that number has risen by over 40%
digital, even as print-based stake- of multicast performances, and to $11.1b.40
holders like booksellers struggle to participation of A-listers in the talent
survive. Many will stay hybrid read- pool.
11 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm3. A look at the future
Before the pandemic, Mark world population, probably 90% e-book market within the next few
Williams from tnps stated, “Unlimited or more have never listened to an years. This could be due to a con-
video streaming services are pro- audiobook. Libraries serve as an fluence of factors:
liferating like wildfire, and unlimited entryway into the medium. With this “Publishers have started to pro-
e-book and audiobook subscription exposure, the ability of Public Li- duce new titles for niche audienc-
services are, depending on which braries to help grow the audience is es, targeting areas other than the
part of the world we care to look, extraordinary.” traditional commercial fiction and
fast catching up. In the pre-pan- children’s books. The audiobook
demic era, the popular position of Equally important will be meeting and podcast worlds are expected
the big western publishers has been consumer needs at an individual level. to meet, enabling cross promotion
to dismiss subscription as something According to Niclas Sandin, CEO and again increasing the audience.
consumers are not that interested in, of BookBeat in Sweden, they see
understandably wanting to protect two important components – Distribution via streaming mu-
their print interests.” personalisation and choice – as sic platforms like Spotify and Apple
If nothing else, the pandemic has central to any strategy for audio- Music will lead to some serious com-
certainly shown the potential for this books going forward: petition for the existing subscription
model for publishers as they contin- platforms, targeting a new, younger,
ue to broaden their format offerings “First, it is key to take leadership generation of audiobook consum-
going into the future. Download pre- in product development and data ers. And finally, synthetic audio –
mium pricing may certainly still be analytics to stay ahead. We offer all apparently already good enough in
the model of choice for top tier new our hundreds of thousands of users the English language for non-fiction
releases, but streaming subscription personalized recommendations to texts – might offer cheaper produc-
services seem poised to be recog- make sure that they always find tions and even more new titles.“
nized as a viable alternative and be- something new to listen to in our app.
come part of the publishing strategy,
especially as a means to promote The second thing we know is that
first in series, backlist titles, and less- it is all about local premium audio-
er-known authors. book content, and you need a lot
of it. A big impact on growth in the
Other trends next years is the widespread avail-
Beyond these trends, several in- ability of all titles on all platforms,
dustry leaders see important devel- which offer a fair and sustainable
opments in the audiobook market. business model for all parties, con-
In a recent APA survey it was report- sumers, and publishers. A great title
ed up to 43% of respondents in the selection is key to not only attract
US reported they accessed their au- new consumers to try out a digital
diobooks from free library services.41 service but also to keep them loy-
al and convert them to enthusiastic Jonathan Atkins,
audiobook-lovers.” International Director,
Pan Macmillan
Jonathan Atkins sees an interesting
trend emerging for audiobooks for
educational purposes:
“I expect to see growth in
children’s audio for educational
purposes - learning English through
entertainment for example -
but as English continues to be
spoken and listened to with great-
Steve Potash, er facility in emerging markets, we
CEO of OverDrive will develop more of an adult
Susan Breeuwsma, audience.“
A supplier of audiobooks to the global Head of Platform Business
public library market, was quick to Development, CB BV
observe the critical importance of
libraries for exposing readers to Huub van de Pol,
audiobooks: Co-Founder Luisterrijk,
audiobook pioneer Icontact BV
“As robust as the market has been in The Netherlands
growing, we have to remember that
audio is still a very small segment They even see the possibility that
worldwide. If you look at the whole audiobooks might exceed the
12 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm3. A look at the future
es such as audiobooks. However, before. It is for everybody’s benefit
with Google, Microsoft, IBM, Ama- and it will be rewarding in reach and
zon and other companies all pledg- in income.”
ing to make their TTS sound more
natural and as people become And Nils Hollmann, Managing
more accustomed to hearing TTS, it Director Audiobooks of Zebralution
could have a big impact on the au- feels:
diobook business.” “There is no doubt that topics
such as data gathering, streaming,
connectivity, voice and AI are influ-
encing the publishing industry. One
can only consume so much media
in a day. If we are where consumers
Beth Anderson, are, we are able to reach new users.
retired Executive Vice President, Alongside our established models,
Audible we should embrace new technologies
that allow us to study powerful
Beth Anderson is impressed by the case studies. More than ever, data
market penetration of podcasts, and gathering and AI are providing
wonders what that means for the greater insights into user profiles
future of audiobooks: and preferences so that publishers
can better supply the right content
“Podcasts have had a much to the right people. At the same time
more dramatic increase in listening Kurt Thielen, voice-enabled interactive audio
than audiobooks in the past few CEO, Zebralution formats provide user with new ex-
years. While Edison reported that periences. Non-traditional audio-
50% of the US population had lis- Kurt Thielen notes how the pan- book channels introduce new users
tened to an audiobook by 2019 (up demic makes forecasting particularly to the spoken word format. Together
from a plateau of 43-45% in 2015- challenging: with our publishers we are looking
2018), 51% of the nation has listened forward to these quite exciting
to a podcast at some time, up “There couldn’t be a better time opportunities that will continue to fuel
dramatically from 27% who had lis- to look at a changing world for au- the growth of the audiobook market.”
tened in 2015. Podcasts have ben- diobooks because a lot of things
efitted from the same trends that are changing in the behavior of
have contributed to the increased consumers, in the thinking of pub- Conclusion
consumption of audiobooks – more lishers, and in the ways audiobooks
devices and greater supply of con- find their listeners. And there could While audiobooks have taken
tent. But the supply of podcasts not be a worse time as predictions the publishing world by storm, they
has grown even faster and larger, so much depend on developments have also been able to weather
with up to a million podcasts and 30 outside of our control.” and grow in the storm of the pan-
million episodes available as of April demic. Publishers should now stop
2020. Podcasts also have attracted Still, trends that were present be- and take stock of how the market
strong following more globally than fore the virus have only been ac- has evolved in the past few years,
audiobooks, with 58% of South Ko- celerated as a result. “Digitaliza- and look at the new and emerging
rea having listened in the previous tion will continue to change our trends. It is an excellent opportunity
month and 30% or greater having lives and businesses,” he notes. In to learn about changes in consum-
listened in Spain, Sweden, Australia, his view the negative impact of the er behaviors with the addition of so
the US and Italy.42 It is too early to virus on bricks and mortar booksellers many new listeners joining the mar-
know if podcasts will bring new fans has trickle-down effects on the ket and to look at and consider the
to spoken audio and audiobooks or physical side of the audiobook in- viability of all the new forms of dis-
if it will draw fans from audiobooks dustry: “Audiobooks on CD might tribution that have been emerging.
to the shorter and generally free be a thing of the past soon If publishers can have an open mind
content.” even in countries like Germany about how these new models can be
where it still has a significant market embraced and integrated with ex-
She is more confident that text- share.” And he has some encourag- isting models, the future of the au-
to-speech (TTS) technology will have ing words for writers and artists: diobook market should continue to
an impact on audiobooks: grow and thrive. Using the new mod-
“Spoken Word experiences seem els to capture the loyalty of the new
“Today TTS technology is used on an unstoppable rise. Creatives demographic of audiobook listen-
primarily in navigation systems, per- need to open up for new business ers while continuing to support the
sonal assistants, and as adaptive models including streaming in order listening habits of the existing base
technology, and we generally hear to reach an audience which is should be a key to the ongoing suc-
short informational clips generat- bigger than ever before, to reach cess and growth of the audiobook
ed via TTS, not long narrative piec- people which have not been listeners market into the upcoming years.
13 Audiobooks: Taking the World by Storm4. Sources
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from Germany, the US and the UK). messe-audio-summit-2019-val- 20200104-audio-
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diobooks-podcast-industry.html strategies-that-may-at-first-
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