Spotify: After upending podcast market, its next target is audiobooks 

Spotify became big thanks to music and its excellent recommendation algorithms, but the company has long decided that it can’t stop there if it wants to keep growing. It has already successfully upended the podcast landscape thanks to its exclusive deals with big podcasters like Joe Rogan, and now, the company is coming for audiobooks.

As Spotify shared during its annual Investor Day (via The Verge), the company wants to make audiobooks its next content pillar, helping it further cement its domination in the audio market. This isn’t surprising given that the business announced that it wants to acquire Findaway, an audiobook distribution network connecting authors and other content creators with reseller partners like Apple, Google, and Audible. While the deal is still awaiting final approval by the Department of Justice for pending antitrust investigations, Spotify still makes clear that it sees it as one of multiple steps into the world of audiobooks.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says that while globally, audiobooks make up less than 10% of the book market, the penetration is about 50% in saturated markets, giving the company a huge opportunity for growth. He states, “And just as we’ve done in podcasting, expect us to play to win.” Like with podcasts, it seems that Spotify wants to create some kind of freemium model that might even be ad-supported, and then potentially offer more audiobooks under its subscription.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek on stage at the company's annual Investor Day

For consumers, everything is supposed to remain a one-stop solution, so expect the Spotify app to become even more of a jack of all trades, encompassing music, podcasts, and audiobooks. In fact, Spotify already offers a selection of audiobooks in its current portfolio, though right now, these tracks often appear to be treated as music, with them showing up in Spotify Wrapped and such for some.

While you might not like Spotify’s direction, the strategy seems to be working for the company at the moment. Spotify closed 2021 with a revenue of about 11 billion dollars, which is more than 20% more than its 2020 earnings, all while the number of subscribers just keeps growing. If you're increasingly fed up with the service but have amassed a huge library, you might consider moving your music and playlists to a Spotify competitor.

( Details and picture courtesy from Source, the content is auto-generated from RSS feed.)

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