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 Figure 1 US audiobook publishing way audiobooks are accessed and 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, Figure 2 which offer monthly subscriptions Device to reader-listeners. These new con- Audiobook streaming usage in % sumers are both more familiar and 100% 1% 2% 4% arguably more comfortable with 3% 7% streaming media than owning it. 4% 6% 90% 6% Streaming media does not place a 9% 6% 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