Monthly Sales, via American Association of Publishers
2009
June (latest)
Total Audiobook sales: $10.7 million
Month-over-month change: -17.3 percent
Year-to-date change: -34.5 percent
May
Total Audiobook sales: $12.9 million
Month-over-month change: -22.7 percent
Year-to-date change: -39.2 percent
Sales Stats
2008 Audiobook sales: $331 million
2008 CD audiobook revenue: $238 million
CD share of 2008 revenue: 72% (down from 78 percent in 2007)
2008 digital download share of revenue: $69.5 million
Digital download share of 2008 revenue: 21 percent (up from 17 percent in 2007)
Source: Audio Publishers Assocation and Publishers Weekly, June 24, 2009
Listener Stats and Demographics
Percentage of Americans who listened to an audiobook, July ’07 – July ’08: 28 percent
Audiobook listeners who have read a book in last year: 92 percent
Percentage of audiobook listeners who have read more than 16 books in the last year: 33
Percentage of audiobook listeners who are college graduates: 88
Percentage of teens who have listened to an audiobook: 53
Percentage of survey respondents who say a child in their household listens to audiobooks: 63
Percentage of audiobooks sold that are unabridged: 70+
Audiobook buyers listen most often in their cars.
Reasons buyers choose audiobooks:
Entertainment on a long trip: 40 percent
While doing other activities, such as housework or exercise: 23 percent
Commuting: 18 percent
Prefer listening to reading books: 9 percent
Activity with children: 9 percent
Class assignments: 5 percent
Other: 4 percent