Streaming: Audible is upgrading against Spotify with new AI functions

Frankfurt. An individual dialogue with Dracula's servant Renfield or a virtual walk through Paris: With the help of artificial intelligence, the audio book medium is also becoming increasingly interactive. Industry giant Audible, a subsidiary of the Amazon retail group since 2008, has introduced three new AI features with which it wants to bind its customers more closely to the platform.

Audible is benefiting from the ongoing boom in audio content. At the same time, the provider increasingly has to assert itself against competition from Spotify, which recently announced a major expansion in the audio book business. Audible's head of content Rachel Ghiazza explained on the sidelines of the Frankfurt Book Fair why users are increasingly open to AI content - and whether the human voice will be obsolete in the future.

The three new features “Character Guide”, “Interactive Story” and “Visual Explorer” are currently initially available in a limited beta version for customers in the USA and Great Britain. They should also be available to Audible customers in Germany by the end of the year, Ghiazza announced in an interview with Handelsblatt.

For complex stories with numerous characters, the “Character Guide” offers an overview of the person who is currently speaking in the audio book. In the interactive story, users can have a dialogue with the main character from the latest Dracula adaptation. In November, the format will be expanded to include the new Audible original “Exoplanet” by “Wolverine” creator Benjamin Percy. The applications were developed by Audible and are unique to the platform, says Ghiazza. The “Visual Explorer” enables a visual journey through historical locations.

All features are currently only available for selected productions. But that could change in the future. Because users are increasingly open to AI content. A new study by market research company Nielsen IQ, commissioned by Audible, shows that 50 percent of users are open to AI-spoken content. In Germany the value is the lowest internationally at 42 percent. Ghiazza sees the acceptance of AI content primarily in increased quality and increasing personal usage experiences with AI. However, there are no completely AI-generated stories or productions at Audible.

According to Ghiazza, the AI ​​should not be able to break out with the latest functions such as the “Interactive Story”. It is not an application in which users can determine the action themselves. Rather, it is “storytelling in a different dimension,” says Ghiazza. You work closely with the creatives to create a story within this dimension. “Everything in it is approved and conforms to their vision,” Ghiazza explains.

With the new features, Audible wants to strengthen users' connection to the story and thus also increase the time spent on the platform. “The audio book is not out of date,” says Ghiazza. “The audio storytelling category is evolving, and there is room for many different types of content.”

And the market is going well: According to Nielsen figures, 34 percent of those surveyed worldwide listened to more audio books than in the previous year. Audible does not provide any information on user numbers, sales or market shares, not even when asked again by Handelsblatt. Content boss Ghiazza only reveals this much: “We recorded double-digit percentage growth in listening time last year,” she said. Japan and Brazil are currently the most dynamic markets. Additional growth comes from regions “where people come into contact with audio books for the first time.”

The Swedish streaming giant Spotify also wants to benefit from the boom in audio books. A few days ago, Spotify announced that it would make its special audio book offering available in over 180 countries by the end of the year. So far there are only 22, including Germany. According to a survey by the Allensbach Institute, in 2025 almost five million people purchased several audio books in one year. In 2019 the number was still around 3.2 million buyers of several audiobooks.

The fact that the world's largest audio streaming service, with over 300 million subscribers, has recognized audio books as a new mainstay for itself doesn't make Audible manager Ghiazza nervous. "There's a lot of enthusiasm for audio in general right now. That's good for the industry, good for everyone," she said. Audible is active in 225 markets and focuses primarily on local experiences. “People want content in their native language, they want authors who represent them,” she said.

Germany is an “incredibly important market” for Audible. Germans have a long tradition of audio consumption through radio shows. According to the Nielsen survey, an audio book session in Germany lasts particularly long on average at 31.6 minutes. The Germans’ favorite genres are mystery and crime. Audible is working with Sebastian Fitzek and other authors to meet German listening needs, said Ghiazza.

Despite all the new AI features, human voices and stories will continue to be crucial for audio content in the future. 53 percent of German listeners have a bond with speakers and hosts, and 62 percent are specifically looking for other books that have been read by their favorite voices. Human storytelling can have incredible power, says Ghiazza. This is how British actor Jonathan Bailey plays the lead role in the latest Dracula adaptation. “The way he plays Dracula – you feel his breath, his intensity – only Jonathan Bailey can perform that,” says Ghiazza. “These things are not going away.”