Spotify is dramatically scaling its audiobook service from just 22 markets today to more than 180 markets by the end of 2026, a global rollout announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday that will extend access to the platform’s 750 million users worldwide. This massive geographical expansion arrives two months after the company warned of slowing user growth in its largest established markets across Europe and North America.
The contrast between the current 22-market footprint and the targeted 180-plus regions highlights an aggressive push to integrate books alongside music and podcasts on the app. Listeners in these new countries will gain access to a catalog of over 350,000 titles spanning more than 120 languages, which includes newly introduced catalogs in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Polish. Spotify stated that all of its publishing deals will be non-exclusive, allowing authors to continue selling their works on rival services. Authors and publishers can reach readers they’ve never been able to reach before,
said Owen Smith, Spotify’s vice president of audiobooks.
Payment and Access Models Vary by Region
How users pay and access the content will vary depending on their location. In markets such as Italy, Spain, Poland, Brazil, and Mexico, eligible Premium subscribers will receive 12 hours of audiobooks a month, with single titles available for anyone to purchase and keep. Meanwhile, across much of Africa and Asia, alongside Argentina, the primary access route will be Audiobooks+, a paid add-on designed for extra listening hours. Spotify noted that Audiobooks+ has surpassed one million subscribers and generated over $100 million in annual recurring revenue just over a year following its launch.
Additional regional rollouts include a November launch for students, allowing users on Spotify’s Student plan in Ireland, Belgium, Austria, and Finland to purchase Audiobooks+, with plans to bring the option to more countries next year. The audiobook expansion closely mirrors the company’s creator payments scheme, which was extended last month to Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and more than 30 other regions after previously being limited to the US, Europe, and Australia.
