Just over a year ago, Spotify launched audiobooks in Premium subscriptions in Australia and the UK. The launch was followed by expansions to Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the US. Now, the feature has expanded to the first non-English speaking markets, as Spotify Premium subscribers in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg will get access to audiobooks.

Spotify announced the latest expansion in Paris on Monday, during a panel talk organized by the company. Publishers such as Hachette Livre, Editis and Groupe Madrigall participated in the panel, and these publishers’ books will also be available on Spotfiy. Spotify currently offers a total of 200,000 titles for premium subscribers in said markets, which now also includes titles in French, Dutch and Flemish.

Spotify Premium subscribers in in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg will now get 12 hours of audiobook listening per month as part of their subscriptions. Users that hit this limit can purchase a 10-hour top-up for EUR 9.99. Titles which are not included in the offering can be purchased à la carte. This is also an option for users without a Premium subscription in these regions.

No information has been provided by Spotify about a possible launch of audiobooks in premium subscription in the Nordics. But this latest expansion may indicate that Spotify is one step closer. Regarding the launch, Spotify states that “this launch opens new opportunities for local authors and rights holders. With 28% of Spotify’s users located in Europe, we’ll continue investing in and growing the available audience.”

Mediavision closely tracks the Nordic audiobook market. This spring, over 25% of the households in the Nordics had an audiobook subscription. Soon, the Q3 figures for the Nordic audio market will be published. For more information, please contact anton.ljung@mediavision.se.

Norwegian operator Altibox is expanding its offering of streaming services. As of yesterday, Altibox now offers SkyShowtime à la carte to its TV and streaming customers. At the launch, Altibox customers are offered Skyshowtime free of charge until the 13th of November. After this date, customers can choose to add the streaming service to their subscription at a charge.

Most of Altibox TV customers have a package of fixed channels and on top of that 5, 10, 50 or 100 points that they can use to select individual channels and streaming services. The cost of Skyshowtime on Altibox is 30 points. For comparison, both Netflix and Viaplay cost 50 points, while Max costs 20, 60 or 80 points, depending on tier.

Tomorrow after the market closes, Netflix will kick off the Q3 earnings season for the media industry. In its latest earnings report, Netflix forecasted revenues to grow 14 percent YOY for the third quarter. The company also expectspaid net subscriber additions to be lower than in Q3 2023, which was the first quarter with full impact from the paid sharing program, launched in Q2 last year.

Tomorrow evening, we will see wheatear Netflix’s forecast was accurate or not, and how the company has performed during the third quarter this year. The upcoming weeks are packed with earning reports from both global and Nordic media companies. Mediavision’s newsletter will provide you with highlights throughout the Q3 earnings season, corresponding to the schedule below. Share the newsletter with your colleagues and stay tuned!

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