Spotify has launched a new audiobook service in Pakistan, allowing users to access more than 100,000 English-language titles. The service, known as Audiobooks+, became available on November 4 as part of the company's expansion beyond music.
Both Free and Premium subscribers can access the service for Rs489 per month, which provides 15 hours of audiobook listening. These hours reset at the start of each billing cycle. If a user exhausts their monthly allowance, they can purchase an additional 10 hours for Rs579. Additionally, the platform allows users to purchase individual audiobook titles without a recurring subscription.
To facilitate the new service, Spotify has added a dedicated Audiobooks section to its app for browsing and searching. The platform includes several features for listeners, such as automatic bookmarking to save progress, a sleep timer to stop playback, and "Page Match," which allows users to switch between physical or digital books and audiobooks to continue from where they left off. Audiobooks can also be downloaded for offline use, with progress synchronizing across supported devices.
The launch in Pakistan is part of a broader international rollout first announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 7. Spotify intends to make the service available in more than 180 markets by the end of 2026, which the company states could potentially reach over 780 million people. Owen Smith, Spotify's vice-president of Audiobooks, stated, "For a lot of people, audiobooks are how they find their way back to reading, on the commute, on a walk, or at the end of a long day."
Spotify entered the audiobook market three years ago by adding the format to its Premium offering. According to the company, monthly audiobook listeners have increased by nearly 40 per cent over the past year, while listening hours have risen by more than 30 per cent. The Audiobooks+ subscription service has gained more than one million subscribers since its launch just over a year ago.
The company operates on a freemium model, generating revenue through premium subscriptions—including individual, duo, family, and student options—and advertising. Spotify pays royalties to rights holders based on the proportion of total songs streamed, distributing approximately 70% of its total revenue to those holders. While some musicians praise the service as a lawful way to combat piracy and receive per-play remuneration, others have voiced objections regarding the royalty structure and its impact on record sales.
As of December 2022, Spotify is the sponsor of Spanish football club FC Barcelona. The company is currently available in 184 markets, though it has no presence in mainland China. According to Semrush data from December 2023, Spotify was the 47th most-visited website globally, with 24.78% of traffic originating from the United States and 6.51% from Brazil.
