APA Surveys: Audio Growth Continues

by Shannon Maughan, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 9/15/2006

The Audio Publishers Association has released findings from two new surveys on audio sales and audio consumers that shows another gain in sales in 2005 and the increasing popularity of the digital audio format.

According to the sales survey, total spending on spokenword audio rose 4.7% in 2005, to an estimated $871 million. As expected, sales of downloadable audio are showing steady gains. Downloads represented 9% of total audio sales last year, up from 6% in 2004. Another obvious trend is the continuing decline of sales in the audiocassette format. Cassettes comprised only 16% of total sales last year, down sharply from 30% in 2004, indicating the inevitable fade of this technology. Additionally, member publishers indicated that they produced fewer titles in the cassette format in 2005.

Fiction still rules the content arena, representing 58% of audio units sold. Overall, 94% of audio industry revenue was generated by book-based product.

So who’s listening to audio. A new study from APA profiles audiobook consumers and examines their purchasing and usage habits.According to the latest data, 24.6% Americans have listened to an audiobook in the past year.

When comparing non-audiobook buyers to active audiobook consumers, several desirable demographic elements emerged.Audiobook buyers tend to be a bit younger (44.7 vs. 46.9 years old); have a slightly higher household income ($57,300 vs. $49,500) and are more frequent print book readers (94.3% have read a book in the past 12 months vs. 69.9%) than their non-listening counterparts. And in a trend that bodes well for building a new generation of listeners, approximately half of the audiobook-listening respondents with children aged 4-17 indicated that their children had listened to an audiobook in the past 12 months.

Consumers are clearly embracing new audio technology, as 34.8% of survey respondents indicated they own an iPod or other MP3 playback device and 31.3% of those respondents have downloaded a digital file of an audiobook to their MP3 player. Downloads are still a relatively small but growing part of the overall format pie, as respondents indicate that 54.4% of their audiobooks are on CD, while 37.3% are on cassette and 7.1% are digital downloads.

Respondents indicated a strong preference for unabridged material. Over 68% of the audiobooks that survey participants listen to are in unabridged format; 17.4% are abridged and 14% are not book-based (e.g. seminars, comedy or motivational programs, speeches).

Bricks-and-mortar stores are still the most popular outlet for audiobook buyers. Of the audiobooks purchased, 63% of audiobooks are purchased at physical stores, 31% purchased via the Internet and 6% via telephone or mail order.

For this study, independent research firm InfoTrends interviewed 3,646 U.S. consumers via a Web-based survey between May 12 and May 21, 2006.

This article originally appeared in the September 15, 2006 issue of PW Daily. For more information about PW Daily, including a sample and subscription information, click here »

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