Remember those heady days when I reported on double-digit audiobook sales growth for a decade straight? Well, it seems that we have, however temporarily, returned to that time. The Audio Publishers Association has just launched its annual Sales Survey (by Toluna) and Consumer Survey (by Edison), and the results suggest that the audiobook industry is, at least on the surface, in a healthy state.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
In 2024, audiobook revenue grew to $2.22 billion. That’s a jump of 13 percent year over year and a return to double-digit growth.
Mixed Signals on AI Narration
So let’s dig into some of the numbers behind that. And I want to start with the one that might feel anomalous to some. Because when we think of really high growth in audiobooks, we maybe think of the vast untapped potential we’re always hearing about for AI-generated narration. And the research shows that more AI-narrated audiobooks were read in 2024 than in 2023.
But it also shows that readers’ willingness to try AI-narrated audiobooks has decreased in that period (from 77 percent saying they would to only 70 percent), despite the apparent improvement in quality—which may be a sign of greater awareness that the issue is a complex one.
Genre Trends and Growth Potential
In terms of reading habits, general fiction remains the largest, which always surprises me—but I guess a lot depends on how you define it to yourself when answering such surveys. The biggest growth came in the genres hot on its heels: Romance (up 30 percent), Children’s and YA (up 26 percent), and Science Fiction and Fantasy (up 21 percent).
Meanwhile, the big headline, I guess, is that 51 percent of Americans—more than half—have now listened to an audiobook, a significant milestone indeed. And the figure that the APA is really excited about is the feeling among non-listeners, where 38 percent expressed an interest in listening to an audiobook in the future.
That’s a large step up from the previous 30 percent, indicative that market growth may not be slowing down any time soon.
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