Spotify expands audiobooks to more than 180 markets by the end of 2026

Spotify will offer audiobooks in more than 180 markets by the end of 2026, up from 22 today, the company said at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday.

The global rollout will reach more than 750 million people, who will find books next to their music and podcasts.

Moreover, the expansion comes two months after Spotify warned of slowing user growth in Europe and North America, its largest markets.

Listeners in the new countries will get over 350,000 titles in more than 120 languages, with new catalogues in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Polish.

How people pay will depend on where they live. In markets such as Italy, Spain, Poland, Brazil, and Mexico, eligible Premium subscribers will get 12 hours of audiobooks a month, and anyone can buy single titles to keep.

Across much of Africa and Asia, as well as in Argentina, the main route will instead be Audiobooks+, a paid add-on for extra listening hours.

Spotify said all of its publishing deals are non-exclusive, so authors remain free to sell their books on rival services.

“Authors and publishers can reach readers they’ve never been able to reach before,” said Owen Smith, Spotify’s vice president of audiobooks.

The new map closely follows the company’s creator payments scheme, which Spotify extended last month to Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and more than 30 other markets. That scheme had previously run only in the US, Europe, and Australia.

Alongside the expansion, Spotify is updating Page Match, which lets readers move between a printed or e-book and its audio version.

Readers can now scan a book’s barcode to jump to the right page, and more than one million people have used the feature since February, the company said.

Students will also get access from November; users on Spotify’s Student plan in Ireland, Belgium, Austria, and Finland will be able to buy Audiobooks+, with more countries planned for next year.

According to Spotify, Audiobooks+ now has more than one million subscribers and over $100 million in annual recurring revenue, just over a year after launch.

Monthly audiobook listeners grew by nearly 40% in a year, while listening hours rose by more than 30%, the company added.

The audiobook push sits alongside other recent changes to the app, such as an editable Taste Profile that lets Premium users adjust their music recommendations.