YouTube is considering entering the audiobook market with a new feature that could be ready for launch next year, following talks held by the platform with several publishers in recent months. The Wall Street Journal reported the information, citing sources, as the platform seeks to expand its paid digital services.
Including audiobooks in a YouTube Premium subscription
The company is considering including audiobooks in YouTube Premium, its ad-free service, for which subscription fees start at 15.99 dollars a month. The service currently gives subscribers access to music and video content without adverts, making audiobooks a potential addition to its available content package.
It remains unclear how books would be offered on the platform, including whether they would become part of the existing YouTube Premium subscription or be made available for an additional fee charged separately for each book. YouTube declined to comment on plans for the potential service.
YouTube expands its paid offering
The move forms part of YouTube’s efforts to strengthen its paid offering, after the platform expanded in recent years from a service focused on video sharing into a subscription ecosystem covering video and music content. It also reflects a growing trend among technology companies to combine multiple services in a single subscription, with the aim of strengthening user loyalty and increasing recurring revenue.
If the company decides to proceed with the project, it will enter a highly competitive market currently led by Spotify and Audible. Publishing industry executives say YouTube’s audience, which includes billions of users worldwide, could give the platform an opportunity to benefit from growing demand for this type of content.
The executives also believe that launching an official audiobook service could help address the spread of unauthorised audiobook copies on YouTube. Publishers hope that working with the platform would provide an additional source of revenue, as interest in listening to books on smart devices increases.
The audiobook sector has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by changing consumer habits and increased use of audio content while commuting, working and exercising. The sector has become one of the fastest-growing areas of the publishing industry.
Data from the Association of American Publishers showed that revenue from digital audiobook sales exceeded one billion dollars in 2025, up from about 265 million dollars in 2016. This expansion places YouTube’s potential plans within broader competition among platforms to capture users’ time through content that can be consumed by listening alongside video and music.
