Spotify to Expand Audiobook Service to Over 180 Markets by 2026

Spotify plans to expand access to its audiobook service to more than 180 markets by the end of 2026, up from 22 currently, the company announced Wednesday. The streaming giant unveiled the global expansion at the Frankfurt Book Fair, building on recent data showing platform momentum.

Monthly audiobook listeners on the platform have grown by roughly 40 percent year-on-year, while total listening hours have risen by more than 30 percent, according to data released by the Swedish company.

Spotify Expands Titles to 120 Languages

The upcoming expansion will give users access to more than 350,000 titles across catalogues in more than 120 languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Polish. However, payment structures for the service will vary depending on geographic location.

Across much of Africa and Asia, as well as in Argentina, the primary access route will be Audiobooks+, a paid add-on designed for extra listening hours.

Non-Exclusive Deals Help Authors Reach New Audiences

Spotify stated that all of its publishing deals remain non-exclusive, allowing authors to continue selling their books on rival services. Owen Smith, Spotify’s vice president of audiobooks, noted that the distribution model helps authors and publishers reach new audiences.

Authors and publishers can reach readers they’ve never been able to reach before

Owen Smith

Page Match Feature Adds ISBN Barcode Scanning

Alongside the market rollout, Spotify is updating its Page Match feature, which allows users to transition between a print or digital book and its audio version. Users can now scan a book’s ISBN barcode with their phone camera to jump directly to their exact page number. Launched in February, the feature has already been used by more than one million people.

Student access is also scaling up. Beginning in November, users on Spotify’s Student plan in Ireland, Belgium, Austria, and Finland will be able to purchase Audiobooks+, with additional countries scheduled to follow next year.

Audiobooks+ Generates over 100 Million Dollars Annually

Spotify currently offers more than 800,000 audiobooks sourced from nearly 300 publishers and more than 50,000 authors, up from 300,000 titles when the service launched in the United States following its initial push in June 2022. The platform’s broader momentum is also tied to external cultural events, such as the release of Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation causing daily listening hours for The Odyssey to surge in France by 752 percent.

Audiobooks+ has surpassed one million subscribers and generates more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue just over a year after its initial launch, according to company figures. The audiobook push arrives shortly after Spotify warned investors in August of slowing user growth in its primary markets of Europe and North America.

It remains unclear precisely which specific countries beyond the current 22 will be added to reach the targeted 180 markets by the end of 2026, as Spotify did not specify the exact national breakdown in its Frankfurt Book Fair announcement.