The well-known music streaming service has recently introduced an independent audiobook category, providing entry to its broad collection without a complete membership. Priced at $9.99 each month, this fresh alternative serves those who mainly cherish audiobooks.
Following the launch of a restrained 15-hour audiobook perk for Premium subscribers in late 2020, Spotify has introduced an additional level that provides access to over 200,000 titles and permits users to listen up to the same monthly limit.
The price of this package is only one dollar less than the cost of an individual Spotify Premium plan, which is $10.99. However, it provides access for users who are uninterested in music streaming or customers with a preferred music service already established. Additionally, this marketing tactic could establish Spotify Premium as an all-encompassing option for individuals interested in both audiobooks and music enjoyment.
Spotify’s latest offering poses a direct challenge to audiobook giant Audible, which is owned by Amazon. While Audible follows a subscription scheme that involves credits for purchasing individual books at $14.95/month, Spotify has opted for access based on the amount of time devoted to listening – an attractive feature for those who prefer short-form audiobooks or engage with multiple shorter works in any given month.
Audiobook interest among Spotify’s free users has experienced a notable increase, according to recent findings. The introduction of audiobooks for Premium subscribers resulted in a 45% surge in daily searches and interactions with this content on the platform. These insights further emphasize the rising popularity of audiobooks while positioning Spotify as an essential player within this rapidly growing market.
Recently, over 600 million monthly active users were reported to have joined the company in its second-largest quarterly user gain. Even after a price hike in the US market, paid subscribers saw growth of at least 15% year-over-year and now stand at around 236 million strong. Despite being acknowledged as Audible’s main competitor for audiobooks’ provision title., Spotify asserts that it is still too soon to gauge how this development will impact subscriber growth or other business aspects moving forward.
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