Entertainment audio consumption grows 18% in Spain in the last year

Oct. 21 (Portaltic/EP) –

The consumption of entertainment audiowhich includes audiobooks and podcasts, maintains a growing trend in Spain, which in the last year has increased by 18 percent, as can be seen from the latest Audible report, published two years after its arrival in this country.

73 percent of Spaniards already consume entertainment audio content, and nearly a third (27%) claim to have listened to at least one audiobook in the last twelve months, as revealed by the Audible Compass 2022 study.

Of those who consume this type of content, 44 percent do it frequently (at least once a month, up from 40 percent a year ago) and 35 percent consume them every week.

The growth experienced in consumption translates into an increase of 18 percent in one year, while audiobooks have doubled their reach among the general Spanish population, according to the latest official data on reading habits in Spain.

Audible, for its part, has registered an average of 1.4 million hours of listening to content in audiobook format per month during the last year, with a sustained monthly growth of 13 percent and a total of hours listened to since October 2020 which exceeds 20 million.

These data coincide with the second anniversary of Audible’s arrival in Spain. “We have confirmed that the Spanish public likes to listen and that it is a great consumer of the audio format,” highlights Audible’s senior vice president for Europe, Matthew Gain, in a press release.

The Country Manager of Audible in Spain and Italy, Juan Baixeras, highlights “the growth of the catalogue, since it has doubled from the 6,700 titles in Spanish with which we launched to the 14,000 that there are currently.”

The company has underlined the positive impact of coexistence with books in other formats: 83 percent of Spaniards who listen to audiobooks have read books in print or ‘eBook’ format in the last year. 84 percent believe that consuming audiobooks brings them closer to consuming more traditional books, up from 78 percent in 2021.

61 percent of Spaniards consume audio entertainment at home, while 49 percent do so during road trips. And mainly, to relax (39%), while doing housework (24%), sports (21%) or cooking (21%).

By genre, in audiobooks the Spaniards prefer Mystery and thrillers (49%), Literature and Fiction (46%), Science Fiction and Fantasy (44%), History (40%) and Health and Wellness (34%), while in podcasts they prefer History (41%), Comedy (40%), Science (38%), Arts and Entertainment (37%) and Fiction (35%).

GLOBAL REFERENCE

The data shared is drawn from the global survey of 14,000 consumers aged 18-65, funded by Audible and administered by Kantar Public. The study surveyed people in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, India, Japan and Australia, the 10 countries for which Audible offers localized market services.

At a global level, the Audible Compass study shows that 75 percent of those surveyed who listen to audiobooks have also read at least one book in the last year, either in print or in ‘eBook’ format. Y the majority (83%) of listeners appreciate the format in part because it allows them to consume more books.

The most frequently cited reason for turning to audio content (audiobooks, original audio content, and podcasts) was interest in entertainment and education, with 66 percent of global respondents selecting each motivation.

67 percent of global respondents listen to audio at home, compared to 30 percent in the car and 20 percent on public transport. The results of the study reveal that 47 percent of those surveyed listen to audio content just while relaxing at home.

Likewise, more than half of the respondents (56%) expressed their enthusiasm for works written specifically for audio: well-known authors who create stories designed to be heard, rather than read or seen.

Mystery and thrillers (49%), science fiction and fantasy (43%), and literature and fiction (41%) lead the world’s favorite audiobook genres, while in podcasts, comedy (42%), history ( 35%), the news (33%) and science (33%).