Spotify expands audiobooks to more than 180 markets

Spotify has announced plans to broaden its audiobook offerings to over 180 markets, a significant increase from its current 22 markets. This expansion follows a rise in the popularity of audiobooks, with monthly listeners on the platform growing by 40% year-on-year and listening hours increasing by more than 30%. The Swedish company aims to make audiobooks accessible in over 180 markets by the end of 2026, although the exact number of countries has not been disclosed.

Users will gain access to more than 350,000 titles, with over 120 languages available, including Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Polish. Spotify will also improve its Page Match feature, allowing users to transition seamlessly from physical or digital books to the audio version by scanning a book's ISBN code. This feature, launched in February, has already been utilized by more than one million users.

Audiobooks were identified as a major growth area by Spotify in June 2022, leading to their launch in the United States in June of the same year, offering more than 300,000 titles. The company currently provides access to over 800,000 audiobooks from nearly 300 publishers and more than 50,000 authors. The growing popularity of audiobooks was evident in the surge of daily listening hours for The Odyssey in France, which rose by 752% following the release of Christopher Nolan's film adaptation.