The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

« Headlines

Audio revolution picks up speed

26.10.07 Tom Tivnan

A pioneering industry-wide campaign next spring will attempt to reverse the continued decline of the audiobooks market. The campaign, which is likely to see a "50 Best" comic audiobooks promotion run in conjunction with the Guardian along with widespread retail promotions, was sparked by a Book Marketing Limited Survey which found that audiobooks are not on the public's radar, do not receive adequate visibility in shops and are perceived as too expensive.

The survey of 2,000 people, commissioned by the Audiobook Publishing Association (APA) and presented at The Bookseller's second Audio Revolution seminar yesterday, found that only 8% of them had used audiobooks in the previous 12 months.

The Book Marketing Society (BMS) and the APA are currently in talks with the Guardian about the "50 best" promotion, which is likely to be centred around comic audiobooks. An additional sponsor is being sought with a proposed May 2008 start date.

APA chair Jo Forshaw said: "It is something we have been trying to do for the past year or so, to get the trade really excited and behind audiobooks. It is essential that we get a media partner and once we do it will be fantastic." Jo Henry, m.d. of BML, said raising audio's profile was essential. She added: "As much as anything, what the research shows is that people simply are not aware of audiobooks."

Last year audiobooks suffered a slump in sales, with a 12.3% fall in the value of sales of the top 5,000 selling audiobooks through Nielsen BookScan's Spoken World Panel to £23.3m. The figures lag well behind the US, where the audiobook market was up 9.5% to $870m (£424.7m) in sales in 2006.

 

Audio tom tivnan BMS