World leader in audiobooks arrives with 4,000 titles
Even for a New Yorker as accustomed to traffic jams as Bob Carrigan, São Paulo’s heavy traffic can be intimidating. "I got to enjoy the city traffic a little bit this morning," jokes the global CEO of Audible, Amazon’s audiobook company, about his commute to the office. But what usually causes headaches for São Paulo residents had the opposite effect on the executive. "I loved it because the daily commute is a great opportunity for us. I kept looking at all the cars and thinking, how many consumers do we have?" said Mr. Carrigan with a smile.Audible, the world’s largest audiobook company, launched its long-awaited service in Brazil on Tuesday. The possibility had been rumored since 2017. It debuts with 4,000 titles narrated in Portuguese, recorded over the past year. "We worked with 500 narrators, of which 1,500 were recorded in our studios," said Mr. Carrigan. The Brazilian catalog is part of the global collection of 100,000 titles available to subscribers. The price of the package, which can be subscribed to on the Audible website, is R$19.90 per month.Brazil is the 11th country in which Audible, which was founded 25 years ago in the United States, operates. Why Brazil? "It’s a combination of factors," said Mr. Carrigan. In addition to the size of the economy and the number of inhabitants, the consumption habits of Brazilians - who are among the world’s leading users of mobile devices and consumers of digital media - were decisive for the company to launch the service. Another reason, according to the executive, is the country’s long literary tradition.Digital content represents only 6% of the Brazilian book market, according to research by the National Association of Book Publishers (Snel), the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL), and Nielsen. This includes both electronic books and audio books. In 2022, of the 10 million units sold, 98% were electronic books and 2% were audiobooks. Considering the sales of R$131 million, the share of recorded books was even lower, at 1%. The rest were electronic books. The digital segment grew by 5% in nominal terms between 2021 and 2022, excluding the effect of inflation; in real terms, it was practically stable, with a decline of 0.9%.This untapped market opens up opportunities for rapid expansion, said Mr. Carrigan. People want to use the time they spend traveling from place to place or doing repetitive daily activities to be entertained and better informed, he said. "They listen to stories, and that’s...
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