61% of Canadian publishers produce audiobooks, according to new data from non-profit organization BookNet Canada. The numbers are from 2017, and represent a stunning jump from the same annual survey's 2015 findings, which put the number of audiobook-producing Canadian publishers at a mere 16%. That's a massive 281.25% increase within just two years.
According to a survey from BookNet Canada, the average audiobook listener "identifies as female, is between 25 and 34, and listens to their books from one to several times a week."
It's a big sign of publishers' faith in the medium of audio. Likely buoyed by smartphones' ubiquity and the rise of the smart speaker, the digital audiobook has been driving revenue across the industry. 2017 audiobook net revenue rose 29.5% over 2016, according to the Association of American Publishers, and audiobook unit sales rose 22.7% in the same time period, according to the Audio Publishers Association. Audible UK saw even better results, with 2017 revenues surpassing £97 million, up 45% over 2016.
In addition, other audio formats are doing well: Podcast revenues rose a formidable 86% since 2016 to reach $314 million in 2017.
BookNet Canada's revelation of publishers' newfound interest in audiobooks comes from their State of Digital Publishing in Canada 2017 report. Another interesting fact from the survey, mentioned in a blog post just published today: "The average audiobook listener identifies as female, is between 25 and 34, and listens to their books from one to several times a week." Many listeners enjoy audiobooks because they can multi-tasking, listening while completing chores or commuting to work: 65% said they listened to audiobooks in order to multi-task, while 33% said it was so that they could read more books and 31% said it was because they liked being read to. These response percentages, BookNet Canada notes, have "mostly stayed the same over the past few years."
58% listen to both audiobooks and podcasts, and 45% listened to podcasts first, making podcasts a bit of an audio entry point for audiobook lovers. Perhaps not coincidentally, the survey found that the most popular place to find an audiobook is online.
However, audiobooks still have a long way to go as an emerging medium: 64% of respondents rarely or never listen to an audiobook, compared to the 42% who rarely or never read ebooks.
As BookNet Canada found earlier in 2018, 46% of Canadian book readers rely on "word of mouth" to settle on their next book, ebook, or audiobook. Presumably the country's publishers kept their ears open as well and know that audiobooks are the publishing industry's biggest rising star.