Fact Sheet
State of the Audiobook Industry
- Publishers of new releases generally expect that an audio book will account for 10 to 15 per cent of a book’s overall sales figures.
- In 2004, the Audio Publishers Association (APA) estimated the size of the audio book market at $800 million. In 2007, this number had climbed to $923 million, representing 15% growth in just over 3 years.
- CD’s continue to be the favorite medium for audio book distribution, however, downloads have increased from 6% of sales (2004) to 14% of sales (2007), and is expected to continue to rise, while cassettes and CDs decline.
- Nonfiction titles account for approximately 30% of all audio book sales, while Fiction accounts for the remaining 70%. There is a strong preference for Unabridged titles at 74% of sales, with Abridged titles accounting for only 26%.
Audiobooks and Commuters
- The most popular place to listen to an audio book is in the car. People also report listening at home, at the gym and while doing repetitive tasks at work.
- According to the Audio Publishers Association, multi-tasking continues to be the primary benefit recognized by consumers of audio books, especially by those who are driving long distances, traveling, or commuting.
- In 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that Americans spend more than 100 hours commuting to work each year, with the overall national average at 24.3 minutes per one-way commute. If the average audio book is 4.4 hours long, a commuter could easily listen to a book a week just while commuting to work.
- If you like to listen to audio books while commuting, then based on a 90-minute commute, the amount of hours of audio book listening that we have available to you will take care of nearly 47 years worth of commutes!
Simply Audiobooks Tidbits...
- The most shipped title in our inventory is Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
- Dan Brown?s Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code both tied in the top spot for most "lost" titles during the shipping process.
- Our most popular genre by far is Fiction, with Business and Self-Help taking second and third place.
- The majority of our customers are commuters with an average age of 41 years. Our customers are evenly split between male and female.