UK audiobook boom continuing with 13% growth in 2018

Tuesday, 12 March 2019 Books+Publishing

In the UK, Nielsen BookScan reports that audiobooks have grown by 13% in volume during 2018.

At the London Book Fair (LBF) Quantum Conference, Nielsen said that the audiobook boom is continuing with volume up by 13% since 2017 and up by 87% since 2014. Audiobooks now account for 5% of all book purchases, with 40% of audio purchases made via subscription models. Young men are still reported to be the biggest audio consumers.

LBF director Jacks Thomas said, ‘Audio has been one of the major success stories in publishing over the past five years, and its incredible growth clearly shows no sign of abating.’

Overall the print book market was steady in 2018 with a 3% increase in volume. Adult nonfiction was up by 3% in 2018 and the fastest growing category was politics and government with a 170% increase, up to 1.8 million books in volume. Children’s general nonfiction has grown 30% in 2018, showing an increase of 590,000 titles on the previous year.

At last year’s LBF, Nielsen announced that while overall book purchases in the UK fell by three percent in 2017 compared the previous year, audiobook sales rose by 12% in volume and 15% in value.

Category: International news