Amazon Music adds audiobooks in Spotify fight

• First look: In a transfer that could possibly be focused at Spotify, Amazon Music is adding the entire Audible audiobook catalog to its app. Limitless subscribers within the US, UK and Canada can now hear to at least one Audible title without cost every month (of any size), alongside greater than 100 million songs in HD Audio, and a spread of ad-free podcasts. Audible is the best-known model for audiobooks (and lays declare to be an early podcast company, too): this supply additionally consists of the corporate’s unique productions. We’ve evaluation, under.

• First look: Acast has signed an exclusive ad sales deal with Casefile – and it’s a giant deal: the present has 80 million listens. The present was with Audioboom.

• How dangerous is “podfade”, the phenomenon the place podcasters cease podcasting? Analysis by Podnews means that of the 24,464 podcasts began in January this 12 months, 7,388 – 30.2% – haven’t posted a brand new episode for the reason that finish of February.

  • 22.7% of reveals began on Spotify for Creators in January haven’t posted a brand new episode for the reason that finish of February – that’s higher than the typical, as is 20.4% for Ausha, 18.9% for Megaphone, 12.6% for Podbean and 12.3% for Libsyn. As you’d count on, podcast internet hosting firms with well-publicised free trials present the best ranges of podfade, together with Spreaker (40%), RSS (71%) and Hubhopper (83%).
  • These figures have been calculated from Podcast Index information in August, utilizing the dates for the primary and final episodes within the feed. Some podcast internet hosting firms delete free accounts when the free trial ends, so that they’ll not seem on this information. The highest 5 firms with new reveals in January this 12 months have been Spotify for Creators, RSS, Buzzsprout, Spreaker and Acast: who between them attracted 60% of latest reveals in that month.

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Evaluation

On the face of it, Amazon Music’s announcement at the moment is a greater deal than Spotify. Spotify gives 350,000 audiobooks, however solely gives round 250,000 in its Premium bundle: and a complicated “15 hours monthly without cost”. Immediately’s Amazon supply is 4 occasions as giant, and the supply of 1 ebook a month is far clearer, and broadly related (most books we present in Spotify’s featured part are round 8 or 9 hours lengthy, so that you get one entire ebook a month there anyway). Amazon’s supply for podcasts is healthier for many individuals, too, with ad-free podcasts (which the corporate pays for); and Amazon launched HD Audio again in 2019, whereas Spotify HiFi, introduced in Feb 2021, nonetheless has but to launch.

Amazon Music has a free tier for Prime subscribers, although Limitless is an additional US $9.99 a month. In 2020, Amazon reported over 200mn Prime subscribers globally, although they’ve not up to date that determine since. Despite that, Amazon Music is barely answerable for 1.5% of all podcast downloads globally (OP3, Aug), 0.9% (Buzzsprout, Oct), 0.3% (Libsyn, Sep). Will a free audiobook change the numbers?

Elsewhere, Apple offers audiobooks, as does Google, but neither gives a subscription supply, and each are solely separate from podcasts and never cross-promoted. And maybe you don’t have to pay in any respect: your library card additionally provides you free audiobooks, due to the Libby app – even books banned in some US states.

Ideas and tips – with Memberful

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