Noa Drori, Senior Optimisation Manager at mobile marketing platform Zoomd, writes for PodcastingToday about the opportunities of sponsoring audiobooks.
Today, the two main channels for audio are audiobooks and podcasts.
Despite the buzz podcasting received during the most recent US presidential elections, audiobooks are generating more revenue and growing faster. According to data from Statista, global audiobook revenue in 2024 was estimated to be £6 billion vs. £3.04 billion for podcasting. Looking at the future, Statista predicts that audiobooks will generate £9.28 billion in revenue by 2027, while podcasting will only £3.81 billion in revenue, a significantly smaller growth rate.
According to the Audio Publishers Association (APA), the fastest-growing categories of audiobooks are History/Biography/Memoir (22% growth), Health & Fitness including self-help (20% growth), Religious/Faith-based (17% growth), and Romance (14% growth).
And the faster growth of audiobooks makes sense, creating a real opportunity for smart marketers.
Podcasts are basically conversations between people and are increasingly available with video. But audiobooks can be storytelling at its best. And what marketer doesn’t want to attach their brand to a good story?
Not your grandpa’s audiobooks
Today’s audiobooks are a far cry from the original ones, where publishers hired someone with a pleasant voice to read the book. Audiobook and podcast service Audible, owned by Amazon, recently announced a new recording of J.K. Rowling’s seven Harry Potter books voiced by more than 100 actors and featuring “a groundbreaking new soundcape”.
As a print purist who likes to read books, I was sceptical about audiobooks. Like a true book snob, I questioned whether the experience was akin to reading. To test ‘listening vs. reading’, researches at UC Berkeley conducted MRI brain scans of people who listened to “The Moth Radio Hour” podcast and then read the same stories. When comparing the listening-versus-reading brain scans, the resulting data scans were virtually identical.
The research that really surprised me was the comparison of audio and video versions of the same content conducted at the University of London (and commissioned by Audible). The research analysed a range of content, including The Girl on the Train, The Da Vinci Code, and Game of Thrones. When comparing responses from emotionally charged scenes – like when Arya Stark sees the beheading of her father in Game of Thrones – the researchers found that participants’ hearts beat faster and grew hotter when they listened to each scene versus watching the same scene.
The value of audio
Engaging with audio content is natural while running errands, walking the dog or even cleaning or ironing. However, for many people, audio provides a better and more effective way to engage with written content. For people suffering from dyslexia, ADHD, or other visual impairments, audio can be a more memorable and stimulating way to engage with content. And for many, particularly kids, listening to audio improves critical listening skills.
With most of us spending so much time reading from various screens, the ability to disengage our eyes and just listen to a story is a great way to relax and wind down.
The marketing opportunities of audiobooks
For marketers, Barbie and Wicked proved the value of tying a brand to a movie. Audiobooks provide a similar opportunity at a much lower cost.
Early involvement and financing of audiobook production can provide marketers with many opportunities. First, a marketer might be able to place a presenting actor in the audiobook. Depending on the book, a marketer could integrate their brand into the audiobook, so instead of a character drinking a generic beverage, the audiobook could play the sound of opening a can of Coca-Cola, pouring it over ice, and then drinking the beverage. Additional marketing opportunities exist for marketer branding tied to the marketing and distribution of the audiobook.
Beyond the aforementioned marketing opportunities, brands who integrate their marketing around audiobooks also benefit from the halo effect of tying their brand to reading, a positive and enriching activity.
Self-Help audiobook sponsorship shows users you care
One category that can provide marketers with a great opportunity to appear authentic and support their users is by sponsoring self-help audiobooks. Because users turn to self-help books to get motivated and change behaviour in their lives, audiobooks provide a level of support and encouragement more difficult to convey in a print book. ‘Come on! You can do it.’ is more effective when read by an announcer with an encouraging voice than when read off of a printed page.
By sponsoring a self-help audiobook, marketers have the opportunity of supporting users as they work to overcome a challenge, building the kind of relationship which marketers dream about. Imagine the value a relevant food brand can gain from sponsoring a self-help book about how to improve one’s life through healthier eating. But even further-removed brand-audiobook sponsorships, like an insurance company sponsorship of a self-help audiobook about exercising for a better lifestyle, can provide the sponsoring marketer with credibility and business value.
Marketers historically want to be among the first to use a new service or platform and be perceived as innovative. Now is the time for marketers to find or initiate the right audiobook project relevant to their key target audience which can provide a Barbie-like market opportunity at a fraction of the cost.
