It’s the perfect time to be a publisher or an advertiser on audiobook platforms! Audiobook audiences and revenues have grown for 10 consecutive years, and in 2021 alone, revenues increased to $1.6 billion. That’s a huge 25% boost in revenue!
The Most Popular Audiobooks Genres
In 2021, approximately 74,000 audiobooks were published, with Science Fiction and Fantasy leading as the most popular genre by share of sales (science fiction growing by 32%), followed closely by Mystery and Thriller stories. The biggest growth in revenues per category was romance, with a 75% growth in revenues.
How Audiobooks Are Consumed
According to the APA Consumer Study, which interviewed 1502 Americans over the age of 18, 45% of respondents have listened to an audiobook at least once, 41% were audiobook services subscribers and 70% felt that audiobooks were good relaxation tools. 54% of people under the age of 45 listen to audiobooks, and 61% of parents surveyed gave their children audiobooks to listen to.
People who listen to audiobooks tend to listen to audiobooks more than radio, podcasts or other types of digital audio. Daily audiobook consumption is booming, and is now 94% higher than it was in 2017! Daily audiobook listeners spend 2 more hours per day listening to audio compared to the general population.
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