HarperCollins audiobook revenue up 13% year on year
News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, on HarperCollins' quarter: “Audiobooks delivered a sterling performance with 13% year-on-year growth, propelled by our global partnership with Spotify and by a focus on enhancing audio as a higher-yielding listening event.” Book Publishing revenue was $582M (+9%), segment EBITDA $75M (+29%); digital revenue grew 6%, with Ann Patchett's Whistler named as a driver at both Spotify and Audible. (Source: News Corp Q1 FY2027 earnings call, Nov 4, 2026.)
750+ stores count down to midnight for a print book — here's how to be listening at the same minute, free
More than 500 Barnes & Noble stores and ~250 Target countdowns mark the ACOTAR 6 print launch Monday night. The audiobook lands at the same 12:01am Tuesday moment — and the standard edition is free day-one on Hoopla, no waitlist. (Sources: Barnes & Noble Inc press release, Oct 19; AFP, Oct 23–24.)
Spotify takes audiobooks from 22 to 180+ markets
Spotify's global expansion makes it a real third kind of plan: hours-based. US Premium includes 15 hrs/month from a 700k+ catalogue; the new markets get 12 hrs/month and 350k+ titles, with Audiobooks+ the main route in much of Africa, Asia and Argentina. Our plan comparisons carry the market note — hours are not the same everywhere.
Audible adds AI inside the listening experience
Character Guide (live in limited beta on Dracula and 1984), Interactive Stories (rolling out this fall), and Visual Explorer (coming soon, debuting on The Cultural Tutor). Exoplanet adds Character Guide on Nov 5. None of this changes who narrates — our Human/Both/AI filter is unaffected.
US audiobook sales hit $2.43 billion in 2025
Up 9% on the year, per the Audio Publishers Association's annual sales survey (reported by Publishers Weekly, June 5, 2026). 58% of Americans 18+ have listened to an audiobook.