We start the week with not one but two “they would say that, wouldn't they?” surveys commissioned by the audiobook industry, in a timely reminder that “that's really interesting” and following the money down a path of healthy skepticism can both be appropriate responses to the same thing.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
Let's start with “Books are good for you.” Who would ever have thought it! The twist is that the report finds audiobooks have this effect as well as printed books and e-books (again, not a surprise given the provenance, but interesting nonetheless).
Storytel's Wellbeing Report
That's the shocking discovery in a new report from Nordic audiobook giant Storytel. In a survey of readers and listeners in five of their markets, they found 84 to 93 percent of regular listeners found audiobooks improved their wellbeing. Self-reported wellbeing scores were higher across both readers and listeners than non-book people.
Perhaps the most important finding for us as writers is confirmation of what we've heard elsewhere. Audiobooks increase the chance that people will finish more books than they otherwise would. Fifty-three to 71 percent across the five markets reported this, and it aligns with what we have heard Spotify claim for their Page Match feature.
Parents were the final big enthusiasts when it comes not just to books as a whole but audiobooks in particular. Half to three-quarters of parents thought their children were calmer and/or more focused with an audiobook, seeing them as an ideal alternative to scrolling screen time.
This finding strikes me as particularly apposite in a week when the UK government has launched a new campaign to “stem devastating fall in children reading for pleasure,” as the title of the parliamentary page put it in uncharacteristically emotive terms. They call for a library in every school. One can't help misquoting Steve Jobs and wondering if, as the UK also looks to impose social media bans and curfews, a less costly part of the answer might be a library in every pocket.
Edison Research: AI Narration Wins over Listeners
Which brings us to the second of those surveys.
And it's one that will sit less comfortably with creators. Research from Edison (who produce regular surveys on reading habits) commissioned by AI voice generation firm Spoken found that readers prefer Spoken's multicast AI generation compared to a single human narrator. What a shock indeed, you might say. And I share the skepticism. But one finding that stands out is the before and after. Thirty-one percent of listeners said they would likely listen to AI-narrated books before hearing a sample. Afterward, this rose to 65 percent. Which suggests many objections are based on perceptions of quality rather than perceptions of ethical or other concerns.
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