(Reuters) – Spotify announced on Tuesday that its premium service users in the UK and Australia will now have 15 hours of free access to audiobooks per month. The company plans to expand this feature to the United States later in the year. In a bid to increase its earnings, the music streaming giant is diversifying its revenue streams by offering podcasts and audiobooks. Last year, Spotify launched its audiobook service in the United States, directly challenging Amazon’s Audible.
Spotify’s ambitious plans include reaching one billion users by 2030 and achieving $100 billion in annual revenue. The company had previously pledged to generate high-margin returns from its costly expansion into podcasts and audiobooks.
As part of an effort to drive revenue growth, Spotify increased the prices of its premium plans in several countries, including the United States and the UK in July.
Spotify also revealed that subscribers will have access to a catalog of more than 150,000 audiobooks as part of their existing Spotify Premium subscription. Additionally, users will have the option to purchase additional 10-hour allocations as top-ups.
To take advantage of this feature, users must currently possess a premium individual account or be the plan manager for their Family or Duo account, according to the company.
(Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
Credit: The Star : Tech Feed
