Spotify users are often used to listening to music and podcasts, but with Premium accounts, they are also given 15 hours of listening to books per month. However, for many, that number is not enough.
Spotify has just introduced the Audiobooks+ supplement, helping to double the monthly listen time.
This package is only for individual Premium users or group packages. When registering for Audiobooks+, users will have an additional 15 hours of listen to cookbooks, bringing the total time to 30 hours per month from Spotify's content store. The Personal Premium package is currently priced at $12/month.
For Premium Family users (20 USD/month) or Duo (17 USD/month), only package managers can buy this add-on. In addition, they will also be able to buy a 10-hour additional package if they use up all the time before the new month starts. In the US, Spotify is also offering a separate package, Audiobooks Access, that allows listening to talkbooks, music, and podcasts with ads, separate from Premium.
The launch of Audiobooks+ shows Spotify's strong expansion strategy to turn the platform into a comprehensive entertainment destination - not only for music or podsets, but also for books. In the context of listening services like Audible dominating the market, Spotify clearly does not want to be left behind.
By flexibly adding listening hours and allowing additional purchases when needed, Spotify is targeting users who need to listen to books regularly but still want to maintain a seamless experience on a single application. This is also Spotify's way to retain Premium users longer, while opening up opportunities to increase revenue from additional utilities.
In an era where users want to take advantage of every free time to receive knowledge, from work, exercise to rest, books are gradually becoming an indispensable piece. And Spotify doesn't want to be behind in this race.
