There has been a lot of buzz around audiobooks lately. We can expect that to continue, as Spotify also enters the fray. Based on Swedish Q4 figures, audiobook listening grew significantly during the last quarter. Listening (i.e. daily reach) is coming close to a new record level.

Yesterday, Spotify reported its Q4 earnings. The service now boasts 155 million premium subscribers and 345 million monthly active users – which represent a 24% and 27% YOY increase respectively. In Sweden, Spotify is the undefeated champion of the music streaming market, holding a market share of 75% in Q4 2020 – and approximately 1,7 million subscribing households.

Last week, news broke that Spotify had initiated an endeavour into yet another area of the streamed audio market following its heavy investments in the podcast arena – namely audiobooks. Nine exclusive recordings of classic audiobooks, narrated by well-known people including Hilary Swank and Forest Whitaker, were made available on the service, including Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. These titles are all part of the public domain, but the original recordings are exclusive to Spotify.

Mediavision’s Q4 analysis in Sweden shows that audiobook streaming is the only audio category that grows in daily reach YOY (+25% YOY). As household penetration is stable, in spite of a high churn, one assumption is that the inflow of new customers keeps, and actually increases, the engagement and usage. We know for a fact that new customers use their service more frequently.

Spotify entering the (quite crowded Nordic) audiobook market is interesting. Is it simply a response to consumer demand or the next step towards a full-service provider of all sound-related streaming?