In the closing days of 2025, Christopher Kenneally, host of The Spoken World, reviews our coverage of the global audiobook industry throughout the year. The Spoken World debuted in March at the London Book Fair. In our first season, we featured interviews and panel presentations from the US Book Show in New York; the Frankfurt Book Fair; and the Parix Audio Day Conference in Madrid.

In 2025, the global audiobook industry saw exciting changes in audiences, products, and markets. The US remains the sales leader with double-digit annual growth, while demand is rising around the world for new languages and new catalog offerings.

To close out 2025, Christopher Kenneally spoke with leading audiobooks industry analyst Javier Caleya, founder of dosdoce.com, for his review of the year’s top stories in audiobooks.

The Spoken World debuted this year in March at the London Book Fair. Since then, we’ve reported news and inside information on the worldwide $7 billion audiobook industry from London, Frankfurt, Madrid, and New York.

In 2026, The Spoken World will return with all new podcasts. 

The French like a good laugh; Italians love adventure; and Germans want to know whodunit.

Those are key findings of the Audible Compass, an annual review of listening habits commissioned last July by the world’s largest audiobook retailer.

Audible’s Barbara Knabe tells Christopher Kenneally that mysteries, thrillers, fantasy, and romance are all popular across the European Union.

Market differences in individual countries, however, lend support to a basic rule that, “audiobook publishing is not a one size fits all.”

We kick-off Season Two with this special panel discussion from Frankfurt Book Fair 2025.

Three audiobook leaders from across Europe shared a stage on the opening day of the Frankfurt Book Fair to discuss the latest data and trends in listener behavior as well as the opportunities for publishers to grow readership through the audiobook format.

The European audiobook market is growing rapidly, with millions of new listeners discovering the format every year. Looking beyond consumer engagement with high-quality content, game-changing new technology is in the early stages of transforming the audiobook landscape, especially the prospect of narration and translation enabled by AI.

Speaking with The Spoken World’s Christopher Kenneally were Barbara Knabe, Head of Content Acquisition, EU, at Audible; Dr. Anke Susanne Hoffman, Director, Strategy & Digital Management Audio, at Penguin Random House; and Lasse Korsemann Horne, Publishing Director with Saga Egmont.

As we complete Season 1 of The Spoken World, host Christopher Kenneally reflects on our global coverage of audiobook events at London Book Fair, PARIX Audio Day and the US Book Show. We look forward to the launch of Season 2 this Fall with our coverage of Frankfurt Book Fair.

Check out this infographic that wraps-up our Season 1.

As demand for high-quality audio content grows, Publishers Weekly’s Ed Nawotka asks a US Book Show panel how audiobook publishers are adapting strategies to keep up. Featuring Audible, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and more.

Which public institution has more branches than McDonald’s restaurants or Starbucks coffee shops? Your local library. At Parix Audio Day in Madrid, Johanna Briton with Overdrive tells Arantza Larrauri of De Marque how libraries spur growth for audiobooks because they expand awareness and opportunities for discovery.

Children’s content is an important and growing segment of global audio publishing. In Madrid at Parix Audio Day 2025, Juliana Ruedo spoke with Kiyeun Baek from Yoto, and Stephanie Simonin of Bayard Audio, about their approaches to innovative audiobook production and content development for kids and teens.

A  Multilingual World Tour of Audiobooks is a panel discussion moderated by Nathan Hull, Beat Technology, with guests Videl Bar-kar, Bookwire (Germany); Carlo Carrenho (Nordic countries); Liza Faja, Editis (France); and Raúl Pérez, Grupo Planeta (Spain). Recorded in Madrid at Parix Audio Day, 2025.

RBmedia International managing director Miles Stevens-Hoare tells Mariana Féged, Bookwire general manager, why a push into non-English markets, such as Spanish and French, has played well with audiences around the world in a conversation recorded in Madrid at Parix Audio Day, 2025.