Blog: Audible

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

What will audiobook market growth look like?

Cover image for What will audiobook market growth look like?

Laura Fisher

24 Apr 2025

Key takeaways from this blog: Audiobooks are evolving into something far more than just a listening experience With its integration into the wellness sphere and innovations in immersive audio, the medium is carving out new paths MIDiA examines the evolution of audiobooks and the possibilities ahead for the growth of audiobooks Over the past couple of decades, audiobooks have undergone a quiet metamorphosis.

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A model for a new music streaming industry

Cover image for A model for a new music streaming industry

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

The music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0 , artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue hitting $4.

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Audiobooks enter their entertainment era

Cover image for Audiobooks enter their entertainment era

Rutger Rosenborg

8 Jan 2025

It is easy to forget that the audiobook is not a new format. Novels, stories, and poems – much of what the modern world knows best through the written word – all have their origins in the oral traditions of the ancient world.

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Will audio have a seat at the creator economy table?

Cover image for Will audio have a seat at the creator economy table?

Rutger Rosenborg

18 Dec 2024

As 2024 comes to a close, it is worth reflecting on this year’s audio trends and where we expect things to head in 2025. Per our recent report, ‘ MIDiA’s 2025 predictions: It’s social’s stage now ’, social platforms will continue to take centre stage on the heels of the creator economy reshaping entertainment in the first half of the 2020s.

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Bundle up: Audible audiobooks join the Amazon Music catalogue

Cover image for Bundle up: Audible audiobooks join the Amazon Music catalogue

Rutger Rosenborg

4 Dec 2024

As audio platforms continue to expand into industries beyond audio, new fronts in the platform wars are emerging. With Spotify now competing with YouTube for video, podcast, and music supremacy, the company’s foray into audiobooks has placed it in direct competition with Audible and, by extension, Amazon.

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What Audible’s new royalty model means for its audiobook battle with Spotify

Cover image for What Audible’s new royalty model means for its audiobook battle with Spotify

Rutger Rosenborg

1 Aug 2024

Business Strategy

In early July, Audible’s blog broke the news that the company was introducing a new royalty model for audiobooks. Previously, according to Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman , Audible would do a “buyout”, paying a publisher an upfront fee to have their book on the service rather than distributing royalties according to titles or hours listened.

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Audio is not enough: Why audio platforms and creators are betting on video

Cover image for Audio is not enough: Why audio platforms and creators are betting on video

Rutger Rosenborg

8 May 2024

subscription video on demand

Video may have killed the radio star, but digital audio platforms and creators increasingly see video as a beneficial supplement to podcasts and audiobooks. From ghost podcasts filmed for social media advertising to podcasts following in the footsteps of TV and film and Amazon opening the IP tap for its Audible to Prime Video pipeline , video crossing over to audio — and vice versa — is a trend that will only continue.

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Amazon opens the IP tap for its Audible to Prime Video pipeline — your move, Apple

Cover image for Amazon opens the IP tap for its Audible to Prime Video pipeline — your move, Apple

Rutger Rosenborg

2 May 2024

subscription video on demand

Streaming video

Marvel proved that spinning out intellectual property (IP) from comic books to movie franchises could be incredibly lucrative. With the growth of video games, this transmedia strategy has expanded to streaming video on demand (SVOD) with successes like The Last of Us on HBO Max and, most recently, Fallout on Amazon Prime Video.

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What podcast slowdown? 1.2 billion people will be listening by 2030

Cover image for What podcast slowdown? 1.2 billion people will be listening by 2030

Rutger Rosenborg

11 Apr 2024

spotify podcasts

Is podcasting slowing or growing? Both, as it turns out. With marketing and advertising budget cuts contributing to layoffs and cancellations at major podcasting players like Spotify and NPR, 2023 was an uncertain time for the podcast industry.

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AI could enable a golden age of audio piracy

Cover image for AI could enable a golden age of audio piracy

Rutger Rosenborg

28 Mar 2024

Everyone knows the story: In the early 2000s, peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing platforms like Napster, Kazaa, and LimeWire helped digital music piracy proliferate, ultimately decimating recorded music revenue for years.

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As Spotify corners audiobooks, Audible eyes functional audio

Cover image for As Spotify corners audiobooks, Audible eyes functional audio

Rutger Rosenborg

22 Mar 2024

Over the course of 30 years, Audible’s catalogue has grown to include more than 470,000 audiobooks, at least according to their own ads . In less than a year, Spotify’s catalogue has grown to include more than 200,000 audiobooks, which is already 42.

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New audiobook pricing gives Spotify the best of both worlds

Cover image for New audiobook pricing gives Spotify the best of both worlds

Rutger Rosenborg

6 Mar 2024

In late 2023, Spotify slowly started rolling out audiobooks to Premium subscribers in select markets . In contrast with Spotify’s unlimited supply of music, Premium subscribers were allotted 15 hours (roughly two audiobook equivalents, according to Spotify) of audiobook listening per month.

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Bauer and Audible: Radio and podcasts CAN work together

Cover image for Bauer and Audible: Radio and podcasts CAN work together

Annie Langston

9 Aug 2023

Although podcasts are sometimes considered radio’s replacement, there are key differences between the formats – such as on demand versus live – that serve distinct audiences. In Bauer’s new partnership with Audible, presenters Fleur East (Hits Radio) and Tyler West (KISS Radio) will discuss their top podcasts and audiobooks during their Monday programs, and invite fellow hosts to share their favourite titles.

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Audible’s new podcast singing competition asks: is audio-only enough?

Cover image for Audible’s new podcast singing competition asks: is audio-only enough?

Annie Langston

22 Mar 2023

singing competition

The rise of podcast videos are breathing new life into the audio market. Since 20% (Q4 2022 MIDiA Research) of all consumers are watching podcast videos, and content must often exist in multiple formats to attract attention today, both listeners and platforms, like Spotify , are shifting their focus to visual podcasts.

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The podcast push that mainstream audiences never asked for

Cover image for The podcast push that mainstream audiences never asked for

Annie Langston

1 Mar 2022

spotify podcasts

The investment from streaming platforms to bring podcasts to mainstream audiences has reached, quite literally, a stadium-sized push. These platforms are making investments as part of wider strategic objectives rather than audience demand.

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