Spotify reported an average increase of 470% in audiobook consumption in the week following the release of a title’s respective film or television adaptation.
Titles included in the report include James Clavell’s “Shōgun,” the adaptation of which premiered with two episodes on Feb. 27 on Hulu; Cixin Liu’s “The Three-Body Problem” which arrived as a binge format television series on Netflix March 21; Danielle Valentine’s “Delicate Condition,” which inspired FX’s “American Horror Story: Delicate” show starring Kim Kardashian and Emma Roberts that had its Part Two premiere April 3; and Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” which inspired Netflix’s “Ripley” which came out April 4.
Film adaptations of Karen Kingsbury’s “Someone Like You,” which arrived in theaters April 2, and Erin Doom’s “The Tearsmith,” which arrived on Netflix April 4, were also listed with the statistic.
In September 2022, the audio streamer launched audiobooks for purchase in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. Listeners were able to choose books from an on-demand catalog of more than 300,000 titles.
In October 2023, the streamer expanded the feature, granting access to 15 hours monthly of free audiobook listening time of select titles for premium subscribers. The catalog has increased from an initial 150,000 audiobooks to now more than 250,000.
The feature expanded to Spotify Premium users in Canada, Ireland and New Zealand on April 9. The goal is to establish “Audiobooks in Premium” in those countries next.
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New releases of in-demand titles have arrived each month in 2024 for consumption in conjunction with their print publishing.
Since the launch of Spotify’s Audiobooks in Premium in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., Spotify has paid out tens of millions in payments to audiobook publishers, who in turn pay authors.