Audiobooks are rapidly turning into extra mainstream, and greater than half of the inhabitants in the USA have listened to at the very least one. Audiobook income grew 9% in 2023 to $2 billion, persevering with the year-on-year development pattern in line with the Audio Publishers Affiliation’s Gross sales Survey carried out by Toluna Harris Interactive. Nonetheless, piracy is turning into an actual drawback for the trade; 47% of those that listened to an audiobook final 12 months say they obtained one without cost by YouTube or one other file-sharing web site.
Edison Analysis, of their 2024. m of media consumption Survey for the Audio Publishers Affiliation discovered that almost all U.S. adults (52%) have embraced audiobooks. This determine interprets to almost 149 million People who’ve explored this medium. This widespread acceptance of audiobooks is a reassuring signal for individuals who have already tried or are contemplating.
Thirty-eight % of American adults listened to an audiobook within the final 12 months, up from the 35% reported in 2023. This rise indicators a rise in total consumption as nicely. Of essentially the most avid audiobook listeners, those that have listened to an audiobook within the final 12 months, the common audiobook consumed was 6.8 titles, up from 6.3 in 2023. Of the broader group of those that had ever listened to an audiobook, the common was 4.8 audiobooks listened to within the final 12 months, up from the 4.0 common in 2023.
Kids’s audiobook listening stays sturdy, with 53% % of audiobook listeners with kids saying their children additionally take heed to audiobooks. In line with 77% of those mother and father, a key good thing about audiobooks is giving their kids a break from screens.
Subscriptions to audiobook providers proceed to develop, with 63% of those that listened within the final 12 months at present subscribing to at the very least one service. This proportion is up from the 62% reported in 2023.
Present audiobook shoppers additionally depend on digital library apps, with 46% saying they borrowed a digital audiobook from a library within the final 12 months.
At 64% of gross sales income, fiction is the highest class for the third consecutive 12 months. High genres are Common Fiction (21%), Science Fiction/Fantasy (14%), and Romance (11%).
The fastest-growing genres are Historical past/Biography/Memoir (22% development), Well being & Health (20% development), Non secular/Religion-based (17% development), and Romance (14% development).
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the previous fifteen years. Newspapers and web sites such because the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Publish and the New York Occasions have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
