Spotify has expanded its audiobook service to four new non-English speaking markets: France, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The move allows eligible Spotify Premium subscribers in those countries to access over 200,000 audiobook titles. The catalog includes 15,000 titles in French and 15,000 in Dutch and Flemish, as well as the entirety of English-language and other language titles for which Spotify holds rights.
Overall, Spotify says 28% of its users are in Europe and reports there has been increasing consumption of non-English language content on its platform. Between 2023 and 2024, over 100 million users worldwide listened to at least one piece of French audio content on Spotify, the company said.
"This is a big moment for our Audiobooks in Premium offering in bringing French, Dutch and Flemish titles to our growing catalog,” David Kaefer, head of Spotify's said. “I'm excited to share this news today as we've been working closely with publishers to build our catalog to unlock more audio experiences to our subscribers in Western Europe."
Premium subscribers are given 12 hours of monthly audiobook listening time, and can purchase additional 10-hour allocations as "top ups" if needed. Non-Premium users in the regions can still purchase audiobooks à la carte. Asked about the reduced listening hours in the new markets from 15 hours, which is what is available to English speakers, Kaefer told PW, “the past year has shown us this is the optimum number of hours for typical audiobook listeners that will work for these markets. For those that are heavier users, it’s not hard for them to buy top ups.”
Kaefer said that Spotify has no intention of producing original audiobooks or otherwise offering exclusives, like competitors such as Audible. “We try to differentiate ourselves through discovery and ease of access."
