Spotify is significantly widening the reach of its audiobooks. The announcement, made on 7 October at the Frankfurt Book Fair, says the service will grow from its current 22 markets to more than 180 by the end of 2026. Italy is among the countries involved and, for Premium subscribers, the package includes 12 hours of listening a month.
What changes in practice
Until now, audiobooks were available in only around twenty countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Nordic nations. Under the new plan, the potential audience rises to more than 750 million people. The rollout has already begun and will continue over the coming months, so not every user will see the change on the same day.
The catalogue in the new markets exceeds 350,000 titles in more than 120 languages. Spotify says additional collections will arrive in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Polish, among other languages. The agreements with publishers are non-exclusive, so the same books can also remain available on other platforms.
How to get access
Spotify describes three routes, which vary from country to country:
- Premium with included hours. Eligible subscribers get 12 hours of listening a month as part of their plan. This is the formula arriving in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Chile, Norway and Peru, among others.
- Audiobooks+. A paid add-on that brings extra hours. On the Premium Family and Duo plans it offers 15 hours a month through a recurring add-on. It is the main route in Africa, Asia and Argentina.
- Buying individual titles. You buy the audiobook and keep it.
Prices and availability change from market to market. Spotify did not give any figures for Italy in the announcement, so for now we don’t know how much individual purchases or any add-on will cost locally. The exact date on which the feature will appear in the Italian app has not been specified either: the company only speaks of an activation by the end of the year.
Audiobooks+ and students
The add-on, on sale for just over a year, already has more than a million subscribers. For Spotify it is worth more than 100 million dollars a year in recurring revenue. In November it will also arrive on Student plans, but only in Ireland, Belgium, Austria and Finland; other countries will follow during the year. Italy is not mentioned in this list.
Page Match
The company has also updated Page Match, the feature that lets you switch from the print book to the e-book and the audiobook without losing your place. Now you simply scan the ISBN code and enter the page number to find the matching point in the audio. It works in more than 30 languages and, since last February, more than a million readers have used it.
The growth figures Spotify has shared are significant: monthly audiobook listeners are up by almost 40% in a year, and listening hours by more than 30%. Audiobooks joined the Premium subscription about three years ago, after their US debut in 2022.
Who it’s interesting for
For those who already pay for Premium and listen to a few books a month, 12 hours is a tangible allowance: it covers an averagely long novel, and sometimes two. Heavy listeners, for example on a daily commute, will need to consider a paid extension, and this is where the Italian price will make the difference. Spotify also plans to sell individual titles, but the Italian terms are not yet known.
If you often listen from your wrist, take a look at our guide to Spotify on Apple Watch.
What we think
The move has a clear logic: audiobooks are one of the few segments in which Spotify can increase the value of a subscription without immediately raising the base price, and they make it harder to leave the platform. The included-hours model is convenient, but it has an obvious limit: 12 hours a month is not enough for regular listeners, and the add-on becomes the real commercial battleground.
In Italy the game will be played on the catalogue. Italian-language audiobooks already face deeply entrenched competitors, and a convincing offer will depend on the presence of recent titles from the major publishers, not just the total number of books. Spotify promises new collections in Italian, but until we see the actual list it is wise to wait. The news is good for those who already have Premium; for everyone else, it is best to wait for prices and catalogue before deciding.
Written by the SpazioiTech newsroom with the help of AI tools, from facts verified across at least two independent outlets, and checked before publication. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Translated from the Italian original. Read in Italian
