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Spotify is expanding access to its audiobooks to more U.S. subscribers. The company on Tuesday announced the launch of its $11.99 per month Audiobooks+ plan in the market, which allows subscribers or their household members on a Family or Duo plan to add 15 hours of audiobook listening during the month on top of the base plan.<\/p>\n
Though Spotify launched<\/a> its audiobooks service in the U.S. back in 2022, household members on Duo and Family plans have long been left out. <\/p>\n The offering makes audiobooks available to household members for the first time in the U.S. market. <\/p>\n Through Spotify Premium, subscribers already have access to 15 hours of audiobook listening per month and can buy additional hours to top off that, as needed. However, the Audiobooks+ plan gives subscribers the option to add recurring access to 15 additional hours every month, on top of the Premium plan\u2019s existing monthly allotment.<\/p>\n While that may be overkill for any but the more voracious audiobook listeners, the U.S. rollout of Audiobooks+ also means that other members on a subscription plan besides the cardholder can now also access Spotify\u2019s audiobooks catalog for the first time. This is made possible through the add-on called \u201cAudiobooks+ for Plan Members.\u201d<\/p>\n With the launch, the U.S. joins a handful of other markets with access to Audiobooks+, including Ireland, Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. <\/p>\n The announcement of the plan\u2019s expansion to the U.S. comes shortly after a tough quarter<\/a> for the streaming giant, where it missed expectations and reported weak guidance. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek pointed to a weaker ads business as the cause. (Spotify\u2019s ads chief had just left for DoorDash, media outlets reported ahead of earnings.)<\/p>\n Despite the loss, one bright spot for the company in the quarter was its user growth. Active users grew 11% to 696 million, and paid subscribers grew 12% to 276 million during the second quarter. The goal with the new Audiobooks+ plan is to extract more money from those existing customers.<\/p>\n In December, publisher HarperCollins teased a solution for the problem with household members\u2019 inability to access audiobooks. HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray said at the time that Spotify was working to adjust a \u201ctechnical problem\u201d with family plans that limited audiobook streaming only to the family plan\u2019s credit card holder.<\/p>\n Last month, Spotify made good on that promise when it expanded<\/a> audiobook access to plan members for the first time with the launch of Audiobooks+ in several non-U.S. markets.<\/p>\n Spotify doesn\u2019t share how many of its Premium subscribers stream audiobooks in addition to music or podcasts, but notes that audiobook listening hours are up more than 35% year-over-year in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. Notably, that\u2019s before these add-on plans became available. <\/p>\n The news of the new subscription follows Spotify\u2019s announcement<\/a> on Monday that its subscription prices are increasing from \u20ac10,99 to \u20ac11,99 across markets in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n Spotify says it will experiment with other options for book fans in the future, including direct sales.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n