Spotify exec says company will start testing audiobooks 'very soon'

Spotify chief financial officer Paul Vogel says the music streaming platform will start testing and testing audiobooks "very soon". The Spotify executive said the company plans to continue expanding its product portfolio as it sees growth opportunities in both its established and developing markets.

Vogel made the comments Wednesday at the 2nd Annual Evercore ISI 2022 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.

"It's going to be released soon enough, but I would say don't expect this to be the last change or improvement we make to the audiobook offering," Vogel said of the book launch schedule. audio.

Vogel said the company views its foray into audiobooks as similar to its entry into the podcast market. He noted that Spotify was able to offer users an improved user interface for listening to podcasts and the company would do the same for audiobooks.

"When it comes to podcasting, we've given you a better experience," Vogel said. "There was no reason for you to switch from whatever you use for podcasts to Spotify, unless we created an environment where it was better and easier for you. And we think there is similar opportunities in audiobooks where we can really innovate and create something different."

Spotify believes there are many ways to add audiobooks to its platform and create an environment that can compete with other audiobook players, including Amazon's Audible, Audiobooks.com, Scribd and many more. Vogel also sees adding audiobooks to Spotify as a growth opportunity for publishers and authors. He also sees the upcoming launch as a way to help grow the market for books and audiobooks in general.

Vogel's comments come as Spotify has been moving towards an audiobook product over the past year. Last fall, the company acquired audiobook distributor Findaway for an undisclosed sum. At the time, Spotify announced plans to build on Findaway's existing investments in the audio industry.

It should be noted that Spotify has already signaled its interest in audiobooks, as it began testing the format in January 2021 with several classics, including "Frankenstein", "Jane Eyre", "Persuasion" and others. He also previously offered the first "Harry Potter" book with chapters narrated by celebrities like Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham and Dakota Fanning. Additionally, Spotify announced a partnership with audiobook platform Storytel in May 2021 to allow Spotify users to access their audiobooks through the Spotify app.

At its second Investor Day in June, the company suggested it could leverage its existing machine learning models to grow the audiobook category on its service through personalized recommendations, as it said. did with music and podcasts. Spotify also noted that it expects the addition of audiobooks to help increase the lifetime value of its user base, a metric it says is now more important in measuring the health of her business than before, when she was more user-focused. growth.

On another note, Vogel pitched the streaming platform's new ticketing product as a way to boost monetization. Last month, the company launched a new site to sell fans tickets to live concerts directly from its platform instead of redirecting users to partners like Ticketmaster and Eventbrite. At yesterday's conference, Vogel said the product has been a hit with artists and the company sees the product as a way to increase average revenue per user.

He also said that when people buy tickets through Spotify, they tend to listen to that artist's music more on Spotify. However, Vogel did not reveal how much money Spotify makes from its ticket sales proceeds.