Spotify Launches Audiobook Service in Sweden, Challenging Established Market Players

Spotify has officially launched its audiobook service in Sweden as of November 18, 2025, marking a significant expansion beyond its traditional music and podcast offerings. This launch is part of Spotify’s broader strategy to compete with dominant Swedish audiobook platforms such as Storytel and Bookbeat while aiming to expand the overall audiobook market.

The service launch includes an initial library with 300,000 audiobooks globally, featuring 60,000 titles in Nordic languages and 25,000 Swedish titles specifically. These titles come from major Swedish publishers like Norstedts and Bonnierförlagen, with ongoing negotiations involving smaller publishers such as Natur & Kultur. Swedish premium subscribers receive 12 hours of free audiobook listening monthly, with options to purchase additional listening time. Spotify plans to leverage its existing user data from music and podcast usage to offer personalized audiobook recommendations.

Spotify’s incoming co-CEOs, Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström, emphasized the company’s readiness to compete in the audiobook market by targeting younger audiences who traditionally engage less with audiobooks. Duncan Bruce, Spotify’s head of licensing and partnerships, highlighted the potential to attract casual users and underserved segments like children’s audiobooks. However, the compensation model Spotify adopts, which pays authors based on listening time, has faced criticism from Swedish authors’ representatives, including Anja Gatu of the Swedish Writers’ Union, who described the model as exploitative and challenging for authors of longer works.

Claus Wamsler-Nielsen of Storytel acknowledged that Spotify targets casual users, contrasting with Storytel’s focus on passionate readers, but welcomed Spotify’s entry as potentially expanding the market. The audiobook market in Sweden has seen a substantial 37% increase in listening in 2025, particularly among users under 35 years old, underscoring Spotify’s strategic timing.

As Spotify launches in Sweden and four other countries simultaneously, this move represents a key step in its ambition to become a significant player in all audio entertainment segments, from music and podcasts to audiobooks.