After operating for a full year under new ownership since it was acquired by H.I.G. Capital and Francisco Partners in September 2023, RBmedia reported a “record-setting performance” in 2024, helped by a strong close. Though the company did not provide financial details, growth came in part from the expansion of its audiobook catalog, which went over 80,000 titles in the year.
Title growth at RBmedia was due to a combination of acquisitions—of Dreamscape and Berrett-Koehler’s audio division—as well as its successful centerpiece program producing audiobook editions for a growing number of authors. During the year, RBmedia reported, the company signed new deals with such authors as C.J. Box, Lee Child, Freida McFadden, and Francine Rivers.
Troy Juliar, chief content officer at RBMedia, said that “romantasy continued to raise a lot of boats in 2024,” and RBmedia was no exception. Other sales drivers were audiobooks tied to streaming adaptations: Julia Quinn’s romance series Bridgerton, Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling Outlander series, and Mick Herron’s Slough House series—the basis for Apple TV+’s Slow Horses—all did well.
RBmedia has augmented its primary business with the production of some audiobook originals, but Juliar said that the company is careful about the projects it chooses: “It can be tough to launch a successful original in a sea of audio content, which does not already have recognition by consumers in book form,” he explained.
While the company has expanded overseas, the market for its audiobooks outside of the English language “has a long way to go before matching anything close to the scale of the English-language market,” he said. Nonetheless, Juliar added, from that small base, foreign language audio continues to grow, albeit at different rates in different markets.
As for the impact of AI on audiobooks, Juliar said that RBmedia “is not currently publishing any AI narrated audiobooks.” While the company is monitoring technology developments, Juliar doesn’t expect RBmedia to use AI anytime soon.
“We are skeptical that anything other than a talented human voice can carry a story well enough to retain the attention of discerning listeners,” Juliar said. “Great voices performing great stories built our business and the entire industry. We don’t think that is going to change anytime soon.”
Juliar also doesn’t see a slowdown in the long-running audiobook sales boom. He noted that, in addition to strong sales from a full year of Spotify’s presence in the business, RBmedia had double-digit sales growth from a number of other consumer platforms.
The current RBmedia strategy is to “publish, publish, publish,” Juliar said. The company, he continued, will “serve authors by making them sound great, helping them develop their audiobook audience, and monetizing the rights so we can help authors make a living.” And, he added, “we’re always open to acquiring additional audiobook catalogs.”