The rise of audiobooks is redefining the concept of reading, according to the Financial Times, as their global market continues to expand. In the United States, 52% of adults have listened to an audiobook, with 51% of frequent listeners aged 18-44.
In 2023, the audiobook market reached €1.9 billion, with listeners visiting audiobook platforms as often as bookstores. The article classifies audiobook listeners into three groups with distinct traits: “repeaters,” who re-listen to the same books repeatedly, often at night; “swappers,” who sample many books but leave many unfinished in search of new ones; and “constants,” who move from one book to the next, as if watching a series.
Although 51% of frequent listeners are aged 18-44, research in the UK indicates that parents often introduce audiobooks to children as an alternative to screen time.
However, this does not mean that book sales, whether digital or in hard copy, have declined; rather, it suggests that people are “broadening the use of literature and what we can consider as reading,” according to the Financial Times. The writer likens listening to audiobooks to “a return to the childhood pleasure of having someone else read you a story.” Research in the UK shows that parents frequently turn to audiobooks as an alternative to screen time for their children.
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