Spotify is sharply expanding its presence in the audiobook market: the service is beginning to roll out access to them in more than 180 countries and regions across Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, including Armenia. The rollout began on October 7 and will continue over the coming months. As a result, audiobooks will become available to more than 750 million Spotify users.

Until now, this feature had been largely focused on English-speaking markets — the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand — as well as Germany. Now the company wants to turn audiobooks into a global business line and compete not only with other music services, but also with specialized platforms like Audible, TechCrunch reports.

More than 350,000 books in 120 languages

For the new markets, Spotify has prepared a catalog of more than 350,000 audiobooks. In total, the collection now covers more than 120 languages.

In Spain, for example, users will have access to more than 45,000 books in Spanish after the launch. To expand the catalog in different countries, Spotify works with more than 300 publishers, including Planeta and Mondadori.

The company is gradually adapting the offering to specific markets, so the catalog selection and access conditions for books may vary depending on the country.

Audiobooks are included in the subscription, but with a time limit

In some countries, users with a Premium subscription get 12 hours of audiobook listening. This limit applies, among others, in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Chile, Norway, and Peru.

There is also a separate Audiobook+ subscription, which provides 15 hours of listening per month. In addition, Spotify allows users to purchase individual books without taking out such a subscription.

In November, the company also plans to add Audiobook+ to student plans in selected regions.

The segment is already generating noticeable revenue for Spotify. Since the launch of Audiobook+ last year, the standalone subscription has attracted more than 1 million users, and its annual recurring revenue has exceeded $100 million.

Spotify is turning audiobooks into a separate ecosystem

The company is gradually adding features to the service that are intended to make audiobooks an independent part of the platform, rather than just an additional type of content.

In February, Spotify launched Page Match. A user can scan a page from a physical book, after which the service will find the corresponding moment in the audio version. According to the company, about 1 million people now use this feature each month.

This year also saw the introduction of audiobook charts, which help users discover popular titles. In addition, Spotify launched an AI-based tool that allows authors to turn books into audio versions using ElevenLabs models.

The company is even experimenting with selling physical books directly through its platform — for now in selected countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.

Demand for audiobooks is growing

The expansion is taking place amid a noticeable increase in audiobook usage within Spotify. Over the past year, the number of monthly listeners of this format has increased by 40%, while total listening time has grown by 30%.

The company is now significantly increasing its potential audience: after the global expansion, audiobooks will be available to more than 750 million people.

For Spotify, this is an opportunity to expand its business beyond music and podcasts by leveraging its already existing global audience. At the same time, the company gets a chance to secure a place in a market traditionally dominated by specialized audiobook services.

At the same time, Spotify will have to address the issue of local content: having a large global audience in itself does not guarantee success if users in different countries lack books in the language they need. That is why partnerships with local publishers and expanding the catalog by language are becoming one of the key elements of the company’s new strategy.