Five weeks after launching its audiobook category, Spotify has opened it to U.S. users. The original plan (RAIN coverage HERE) limited the audiobook experience to U.K. and Australian populations.
“Audiobook lovers across the U.S., rejoice!” Spotify lauds, as American Premium subscribers join the book club. Also, the available library now includes “over 200,000” titles.
The benefit structure remains limited by listening time — it is 15 hours per month. Spotify calculates about two average-length audiobooks can fit into that time window.
The packaging is mainly unpackaged: “Starting today, you’ll simply start seeing audiobooks marked as ‘Included in Premium’ that you can hit play on right away,” the notice informs us.
Spotify did a bit of consumer research to substnatiate is dive into a non-music category. That study showed that audiobook listening skews young: Gen Z and millennials lead in audiobook listening, with 72% of 18-to-34-year-olds reporting that they listen to audiobooks. The graphic below drills into survey details:
