A full TNPS analysis of the Spotify acquisition of Findaway and what it means for the audiobook industry will follow after the weekend.
It was back in August 2020 that Spotify first announced its entry into the audiobook sector. Industry observers yawned. Nothing to see here. Next!
Well, not all industry observers. Some of us saw the announcement as a seismic shift in the audiobook landscape.
From TNPS fifteen months ago:
Can Spotify dominate the audiobook scene in the same way it has music? No is the simple answer. But it will fundamentally change the audiobook model in the western markets before this decade is over.
Today’s announcement that Spotify is buying out Findaway, from early reportage of the news, is being seen by most industry observers as just another news acquisition item to be noted and filed away.
In fact the Spotify acquisition of Findaway has deep ramifications for the industry and takes us a big step closer to the TNPS 2030 audio market valuation forecast of $37 billion.
A full TNPS analysis of the Spotify acquisition of Findaway and what it means for the audiobook industry will follow after the weekend.
So, Spotify acquires Findaway, Storytel acquires audiobooks.com, and Spotify with Storytel have a partnershhip, if I remember well? Are we going towards a new huge player in the audiobooks industry?
I think the Storytel-Spotify partnership is a sideshow to and separate from these two huge news stories.
Spotify’s core base of music lovers are the target audience for Spotify to bring audiobooks to their attention. A huge global development.
Storytel in the English-language markets with an existing platform to rebrand is quite a separate story.
Both seismic shifts in the global publishing landscape