APA RESEARCH FACTS

• Publisher receipts in 2024 totaled 2.22 billion dollars, continuing the trend of year-on-year growth.

• 2024: Per 2025 consumer data, 51% of Americans aged 18 and older, an estimated 134 million people, have listened to an audiobook.

• Audiobooks are increasingly mainstream. 38% of non-listeners say they are interested in audiobooks, up from 32% last year, with the number of those very interested nearly doubling from 10% to 18%.

• Accessibility is a key factor in audiobook consumption: 72% say it’s important that audiobooks are available on their preferred listening platform and 63% value access through their library app.

• Piracy continues to be a concern, and the Audio Publishers Association is actively working on this issue, noting from the Edison data that 35% of Audiobook Listeners have listened to an audiobook on YouTube, up from 27% in 2023. One of the top reasons (76%) for using YouTube was cited as no cost for the products, which are largely pirated.

• The consumption and number of AI-narrated audiobooks has increased, though willingness to try AI-narrated audiobooks dropped year-over-year, from 77% in 2023 to 70% in 2025.

• Sales increases continue to be driven by digital audiobooks, which accounted for 99% of revenue in 2024 and grew year over year by 14%.

• Fiction, at 67% of sales revenue, is the top category for the fourth consecutive year. Top genres are General Fiction (20%), Science Fiction/Fantasy (15%), and, all tied at 11%: Romance; General Non-Fiction; and Mysteries/Thrillers/Suspense.

• The fastest growing genres are Romance (30% growth), Children’s & YA (26% growth), and Science Fiction / Fantasy (21% growth).

*These statistics are based on the sales survey conducted for the APA by the independent research firm Toluna and on the consumer behavior survey conducted by Edison Research – both surveys completed in Spring 2025.

For media inquiries and questions about the industry please contact APA Headquarters, press@audiopub.org