Tag: audiobooks expansion

Spotify Expands Audiobook Access for Premium Subscribers in Five More European Countries

November 18, 2025

Our mission to make Spotify the ultimate home for all things audio continues. Starting today, eligible Premium listeners in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Monaco can explore more than 300,000 audiobooks, now included with their existing subscriptions.

Listeners can dive into an expansive mix of local-language favorites and global bestsellers, including the region’s largest English-language catalog available on a consumption-based service. Our local-language catalog is thoughtfully curated in collaboration with independent publishers and major partners like Bonnier, ensuring something for every listener.

Premium subscribers in these five markets will receive 12 hours of audiobook listening each month, in addition to their music and podcasts options.

More ways to listen from day one

This launch is the first to include expanded options for audiobook listening from the start, offering listeners greater flexibility: 

    • If you use your full 12-hour allocation, you can purchase 10-hour top-ups as needed. 
    • For the first time at launch, Audiobooks+ is available. It’s a recurring monthly add-on that provides additional listening hours and enables plan managers to purchase audiobook access for sub-accounts on Family and Duo plans. 
    • Free users can also purchase individual audiobooks directly through Spotify.

A personalized experience

Spotify brings every kind of audio together—music, podcasts, and audiobooks—in one easy experience. For audiobook fans, this means a smoother, smarter way to listen:

    • Personalized discovery: Explore audiobook recommendations in your Home feed or visit the Audiobooks hub for editorial picks curated by our local experts.
    • Seamless listening: Automatic bookmarking saves your place so you can easily pick up where you left off, and a sleep timer lets you fall asleep to your favorite stories without missing a word.
    • Audiobook Recaps: This new feature, currently in beta for English-language titles, provides short, personalized summaries based on where you last stopped listening, making it easier to jump back into a book after a break.

A commitment to local publishing

The Nordics are home to some of the world’s most passionate audiobook listeners and some of Spotify’s most engaged communities. With Audiobooks in Premium now available in these countries, we’re opening new doors for both local and international authors and publishers to reach more listeners than ever before.

Our approach has already proven impactful. In our English-language markets, audiobook listeners are up 36% year-over-year, with total listening hours up 37%. More than half (52%) of Spotify’s global audiobook audience is between 18 and 34, underscoring how we’re connecting a new generation with the power of storytelling. Leading publishers such as Bloomsbury, HarperCollins, and Lagardère have even credited Spotify with driving double-digit growth in audio sales.

As part of this launch, local authors and publishers will gain access to the Spotify for Authors platform, which offers tools and insights to help them understand their audiences and expand their reach.As we bring audiobooks to more listeners around the world, we’ll continue working hand in hand with local authors and publishers to create a richer, more connected future for storytelling on Spotify.

Spotify Launches Audiobooks in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—and Premium Listeners Get Instant Access

October 14, 2024

Since its launch just over a year ago, Spotify’s Audiobooks in Premium offering has helped introduce the format to an entirely new audience across the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. We’re seeing more listeners try audiobooks for the first time and embrace new and different books, with hundreds of thousands of unique titles streamed.

Today, we’re thrilled to announce that listeners in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg will now have access to audiobooks, which includes exciting work from local authors such as Gaël Faye, Maylis de Kerangal, Joël Dicker, Suzanne Vermeer, and Saskia Noort, to name a few.

Eligible Spotify Premium subscribers in those countries will be able to access more than 200,000 audiobook titles as part of their subscriptions. Any title not included in our Audiobooks in Premium offering can be purchased à la carte. Listeners in these regions without a Premium subscription can also purchase any title on Spotify.

 

 

In partnership with publishers from across these markets, Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, has the potential to grow the size of the audiobook industry overall. We are enabling more listeners than ever to discover and engage with a rich catalog of titles, including in their own language, and paving the way for future innovation of the audiobook format.

“Spotify’s reach presents a significant opportunity to expand the audiobooks market across France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg,” said Antoine Monin, Managing Director, Spotify Western Europe. “Since our launch in Western Europe 16 years ago, Spotify has evolved into a leading platform for music, podcasts, and now audiobooks. We are proud to spotlight this region’s rich literary tradition, with 15,000 French and 15,000 Dutch and Flemish titles joining our catalog, advancing our mission to empower audio creators globally and connect them with audiences both locally and internationally.”

One year of Audiobooks in Premium

While it’s still early days, the reaction to Audiobooks in Premium from authors, publishers, and listeners in available markets has been remarkable. On Spotify, we’ve seen user engagement increase among listeners who started an audiobook for the first time. In the U.S., these users spend an average of five additional hours on Spotify over their first two months after starting a book.

This launch opens up new opportunities for local authors and rights holders and helps create an additional revenue stream for the industry. With 28% of Spotify’s users located in Europe, we’ll continue investing in and growing the available audience and revenue pies for publishers and authors.

Spotify announced this latest expansion today in Paris with a panel featuring voices from across the industry: Laure Saget, CEO of Hachette’s Audiolib and Audiobook Commission President at the French Publishers Association, Liza Faja, Head of Lizzie, the audiobook imprint of Editis, Éric Marbeau, Head of Digital Distribution at Madrigall, parent company of Éditions Gallimard and Editions Flammarion, and Timothée Borne, CEO of the immersive audio content production company Blynd Media.