Spotify on Thursday made a significant push to have extra audiobooks on its platform by shopping for US-based audio tech firm Findaway because it tries to recreate its success with podcasts.
Findaway, which has partnerships with audiobook publishers resembling Amazon’s Audible, Apple iBooks, Google, and Storytel, provides a world audio e-book catalog. It additionally owns Voices, which helps authors to self publish.
“That is the primary huge transfer…what we wish to obtain is for Spotify shoppers to have the ability to purchase any audio e-book on Spotify and take heed to it,” Chief Analysis & Growth Officer Gustav Söderström stated in an interview.
Phrases of the transaction, which is anticipated to shut within the fourth quarter, weren’t disclosed.
Spotify is following a playbook much like that of its podcast enterprise. It ventured into podcasts in 2018, bulked it up with a string of acquisitions and is anticipated by analysts to overhaul Apple as the most important podcast supplier by the tip of the 12 months with greater than 3 million titles.
The corporate, which already has a tie-up with Swedish audiobook streaming group Storytel to permit its subscribers to take heed to audiobooks, had additionally launched Open Entry Platform for publishers to stream their content material.
“We all know from a survey that lots of our customers who listened to true crime podcasts additionally went on to purchase audiobooks about true crime,” stated Söderström. “That is a giant potential for publishers, as a result of we predict now we have a consumer base that may be a actually good goal for audiobooks as effectively.”
Spotify’s whole month-to-month energetic customers rose 19 % to 381 million within the newest quarter with income of about EUR 2.5 billion euros (roughly Rs. 21,278 crore).
The worldwide audiobooks market is anticipated to be price $9.3 billion (roughly Rs. 69,231 crore) by 2026 from $4 billion (roughly Rs. 29,776 crore) in 2020, in line with analysis agency Omdia.
© Thomson Reuters 2021
