How The Audiobook And Podcast Overlap Can Morph The Audio Industry

Are audiobooks and podcasts direct competitors?

Here are two people with opposite viewpoints on audiobooks and podcasts.

Anna Caffee puts in her earbuds as soon as her butt hits the seat on the train. Every morning, she travels from White Plains, NY, to Manhattan, where she works as the Security Manager for one of the many skyscrapers in the city. She worked through the COVID lockdown when the trains were empty and is still working now as they are filled up again.

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For her 50-minute ride, Anna listens to podcasts every morning and every evening. In the morning, it’s The Daily or Today Explained, and then I Shaved My Vag For This and Conspiracy She Wrote. On the way home, it’s Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal and then a true-crime podcast like The Murder Sheet.

For all of her devotion to the listening experience, Anna has never listened to an audiobook.

“I just feel like it’s a big commitment of time,” admits Anna. “Some of these audiobooks are 12 or more hours long.”

In Plano, Texas, John Rainey listens to an audiobook both ways on his commute in his Prius as he drives to and from Fort Worth, where he works as a software engineer.

“I’ve not gotten into podcasts yet,” admits John. “I’ve been listening to audiobooks from the CD days. For me, I enjoy non-fiction and learning during my commute time.”

Podcasts and audiobooks have several attributes in common. First, they are an audio medium, even podcasting has ventured successfully into video. It’s important to note that, according to Edison Research, about half of all video podcast consumers listen instead of watch. Second, audiobooks and podcasts are currently both on a hot streak with attracting ears and dollars. Some have argued that podcasts and audiobooks are direct competitors because they attract listeners who have limited “ear” time. Market numbers don’t show that competition. Instead, listening to one audio medium seems to spur activation in the other audio medium. Numerous studies show that Anna from White Plains will find her way to audiobooks, and John from Fort Worth will begin to check out podcasts.

Amazon versus Spotify

While there are many players in the audiobook market, two are dominant, and these same two also have an outsized presence in podcasting. That’s not by happenstance. Corporate entities have understood the connective tissue between audiobooks and podcasts for years. They were just waiting for the technology to fuse them together.

According to WordsRated, Audible commands approximately 63.4% of the U.S. audiobook publishing market.

Amazon acquired the podcast network Wondery in December 2020 for approximately $300 million. After initially expanding the podcast network, and following an organizational restructuring and a push into video-focused content, Amazon recently folded the standalone Wondery app and its Wondery+ subscription service into its audiobook and podcast platform, Audible. However, the Wondery brand itself continues to operate and produce podcasts under Amazon’s umbrella

According to AmplifiMedia, Amazon restructured its audio division to shift focus toward scalable celebrity hits and video-first podcasts, moving narrative shows into Audible and splitting up Wondery’s operations.

In summer 2020, Audible introduced a new, cheaper subscription plan, Audible Plus, to connect users to its growing collection of originals. The $7.95 per month membership – “The Plus plan” – now offers over 11,000 pieces of content but doesn’t include credits to download audiobooks, as on the $14.95 per month Audible Premium Plus plan.

With the addition of free, third-party podcasts, Audible can now entice more users to download their app for free podcast content and then upsell them to the Plus Plan or the monthly audiobook subscription plan.

“Audible says more shows and podcasts will be added in the weeks and months ahead. With these carefully calibrated chess moves, it appears that Audible is turning into more of a podcast app,” says marketing consultant Maggie Hammerstein.

The Podcast promotion cycle

There is a unique symmetry between podcasts and audiobooks related to marketing each media format. For example, authors and podcasters have a long-running symbiotic relationship. Podcasters need authors when specific expertise on a subject is needed. The author is the ideal person to fit the bill. After all, authors are credentialed because of their published works, and they can provide heft to the discussion brewing in any podcast.

For podcasts, authors provide legitimacy to any topic, and their insights – based on the wisdom mined from their book research – can make for an enlightening and lively discussion.

“Of course, many authors want a podcast interview to lead to increased print, digital, or audio book sales,” says marketing consultant Maggie Hammerstein. “But they also want to develop a brand and a media presence. Podcasts are an ideal way to accomplish both goals.”

Surveys of podcast listeners have found that they tend to read more than the general population and listen to audiobooks at a much higher rate.

The return on investment for podcasters is that authors attract ears to their podcast because popular authors have loyal followings. Book podcasts score higher download rates when prominent authors are interviewed on the show. Even a podcast discussion of a best-selling book seems to generate more downloads.

One area where podcasts and audiobooks converge is the brutal competition in both arenas. There are 156,000 active weekly episodes with tens of thousands of monthly, bi-monthly, or seasonal podcasts.

In the white-hot bubble of the audiobook market, major publishers such Audible, Hachette Audio, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster have invested in opening more studios and narrators to speed up production. In 2018, 44,685 new audiobook titles were issued. In 2019, that number jumped to 60,303 – an 18 percent jump in one year.

According to Publishers Weekly, last year, U.S. audiobook sales reached $2.43 billion, which is nine percent increase over the previous year’s $2.22 billion. In fact, by 2020, audiobook sales had eclipsed sales of ebooks by over $250 million. Publishers Weekly also notes that there were 0ver 750,000 active audio titles, marking a 43% jump from 2024. Top genres included general fiction led the market at 27% of revenue, followed by science fiction/fantasy, romance, and mysteries/thrillers/suspense. The fastest-growing genres were Humor, general fiction, and children’s/YA titles saw the quickest growth.

Last year, an estimated 157 million Americans (58% of adults) listened to an audiobook over the past year.

Like podcasts with its celebrity podcasters, audiobooks do have their “celebrity” narrators. The best audiobook narrators include standout performers like Ray Porter, Julia Whelan, and Michael Kramer. These top talents are celebrated for transforming written stories into unforgettable listening experiences through distinct voices, deep emotional range, and pacing.

Ray Porter is famous for science fiction like Project Hail Mary and the Bobiverse series. Listeners on YouTube highlight how he brings distinct, engaging personalities to life. Julia Whelan is also an author known for Educated by Tara Westover, praised for raw emotional authenticity. Jim Dale and Stephen Fry are legendary for their distinct, beloved approaches to the Harry Potter series.

In an article in Radio Today, Melissa Thom, Founder and Principal Coach at BRAVA (Bristol Academy of Voice Acting), wrote, “One of the most persistent misconceptions is that audiobook narration is simply reading clearly for extended periods. But it’s a precision storytelling discipline. audiobooks demand immersion. A listener may spend ten, fifteen or twenty hours with your voice over the life of a single title and the experience must feel seamless. That requires emotional restraint, tonal consistency across recording days, deep understanding of narrative voice, and subtle performance shifts sustained over entire chapters.”

Podcasts that are kinda like audiobooks

The difference between a podcast and an audiobook is how the content is broadcast, not the content itself. In fact, serial literature – where a more extensive work was published in a series of smaller, sequential installments — had been a popular publishing technique from the Victorian Era in England to the 20th century. It was not uncommon for a novel like The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, published in 1836, to begin life in installments in monthly periodicals.

Even Sherlock Holmes fiction was published in installments in The Strand Magazine around the turn of the 20th century.

Are podcasts simply the literary equivalent of audiobooks divided into discrete episodes?

Let’s take one of the most popular podcasts of all time – Serial by Sarah Koenig. Season one had 12 episodes and runs about seven hours. If all 12 episodes were assembled together, you’d basically have an audiobook.

Would Serial not be as compelling told in an audiobook format with 12 chapters? Instead of a podcast format with 12 episodes that were released weekly.

“I’m actually surprised that more successful podcasters haven’t bundled a season of their episodes and sold them as an audiobook,” says marketing consultant Maggie Hammerstein.

Hammerstein continues: “I foresee best-selling audiobooks of an entire season of Hidden Brain by Shankar Vendantam. How Audible’s Business Wars packaging episodes on the battles between Coke and Pepsi, FedEx and UPS, Chik-Fil-A and KFC, and Hasbro vs. Mattel. Or Science Vs with a ‘best of’ episodes audiobook?”

It’s not surprising at all that podcasts and audiobooks are enjoying a simultaneous explosion in popularity. The two audio formats are, in many ways, twins of each other.

“If anyone looked back at media history in the 20th century,” begins Maggie Hammerstein, “they’d find that audio formats have always enthralled Americans.”

“Before television, radio dramas like The Shadow, Superman, and CBS Radio Mystery Theater were wildly popular,” adds Hammerstein. “When the technology of TV killed much of radio’s content, radio still thrived by focusing on music, talk radio, and sports talk. Now, technology like the smartphone and earbuds have paved the way for the surging tide of podcast and audiobook popularity.”

How podcasts and audiobooks intersect in the future as both continue their growth spurt remains to be seen. Predictions are dangerous and dependably unreliable.

Did Video Kill The Audio Star?

The advent and popularity of video podcasts have made the comparison between audio podcasts and audiobooks a more complicated and precarious intellectual exercise. Almost video podcasts are either interview shows or host monologue shows (where the host speaks for the entire episode).

Are video podcasts then more connected to documentaries on TV, streaming, and film?

“In one sense, documentaries are essentially video narrative podcasts,” says indie filmmaker Devin Carruthers.

“What’s prompting this confluence of podcasting and audiobooks is economics,” adds Carruthers. “You have two dominant players – Amazon and Spotify – in podcasting, audio, and audiobooks duking it out over market dominance.”

“May the most resourceful company win,” he adds.

Here’s what Good E-Reader said about the convergence of audiobooks and podcasts. “Literary works and non-fiction are increasingly broken into episodic installments delivered via standard RSS podcast feeds rather than as a single massive file. Publishers are experimenting with releasing audiobooks in sequential, ad-supported chunks akin to weekly podcast drops. Networks distribute classic literature adaptations directly into Spotify and Apple Podcasts apps to lower the commitment barrier of a full-length book.”

There is no doubt that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be a game changer in podcasting and audiobooks. Already, AI narrators are seeping into audiobook narration with some evidence that audiences are not completely opposed to such an innovation.

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In podcasting, about 25% of all newly created podcast feeds are estimated to be generated or narrated by artificial intelligence. Tracking data from platforms like the Podcast Index shows that AI-generated content has rapidly surged to account for over a third of all brand-new podcast output.

According to Twin Flames Studios, there are over 40,000 AI-narrated titles available on major platforms like Audible, a number that has surged rapidly from roughly 1,600 titles. Despite this growth, AI-narrated content still accounts for a small fraction—roughly 5% or less—of the total active audiobook market.

What we are seeing is a convergence of podcasts and audiobooks. As reported here, audiobook publishers are now using podcast delivery systems and formatting these “books” with an episodic structure.

As of yet, we have not seen podcasters re-format their episodes into an audiobook, although such a enterprise is both doable and profitable as another monetization option in a podcasting industry where securing enough income to podcast full-time is a dream that escapes over 90% of all podcasters.

History podcasts such as History Extra, Tracing The Path, Byte-Sized Biographies, Short History, and A History Of Rock Music In 5oo Songs could make ideal audiobooks with one season packaged as an audiobook.