The percentage of Italians who listen to audiobooks in 2023 is close to that of the last two years although down slightly: 14% compared to 15% in 2023 and 16% in 2022. This percentage doubles if we consider listening podcasts, which is practiced by 28% of Italians, mostly men (31% of men and 24% of women) and young people (among 18-24 years old, this percentage reaches 45%).
From podcast to book
To quickly compare this data with the French situation, we can consult the 13th edition of the Barometer on the uses of printed, digital and audio books SOFIA/SNE/SGDL (2023). According to this study, in 2023, 5 million French people aged over 15 have listened to at least one physical audiobook and 4 million at least one digital audiobook over the last 12 months (out of a population estimated at around 68 million in 2024, source Insee). As in the Italian case, their profile is younger and more masculine.
Another important data concerns the link between purchasing a book and listening to a podcast. Of the 12.4 million Italians who listened to podcasts, almost one in three (31%) subsequently purchased a book on the subject covered by the podcast. The podcast can thus become an instrument for promoting reading.
Book vs television
Marino Sinibaldi, editor of the Timbuctu podcast (He Post), who connects books and current events and former president of Cepell (Centro per il libro e la lettura), participated in a meeting at Più libri più liberi in Rome, organized by the AIE in December 2024 .
After having underlined the prerogative of a medium which allows one to listen to a book while doing something else, he returns to the opposition between television and reading and to the lack in Italy of a widely broadcast program on reading such as, for example, example, The big bookstore.
The cause lies, according to this expert, in the fact that the time of reading would be “a totally anti-television moment because the book lives from the absence of images, its charm is also its fatigue”, he explains to GdL (Library Journal).
A market again “restricted »…
If the value of the Italian audiobook market is difficult to estimate, particularly in the absence of Amazon data, according to Riccardo Cavallero, publisher of the Voxa streaming platform, this market is still rather “restricted”and has great room for growth. In fact, being the Italian readership composed for the most part of a core of strong readers, reading is not yet a very popular activity and thus presents large margins of diffusion.
However, Riccardo Cavallero points out that publishers are not yet investing sufficiently in audio products, due to a lack of public support, but also because of the significant investments required to produce a podcast.
… captured by the platforms
Finally, he specifies that “in the absence of aid, small and medium-sized publishers rely on platforms, but are bound by exclusivity contracts“. In this way, « distribution monopolies» occur.
Indeed, even in France, subscription to platforms (reading and listening) is increasing: in 2023, 47% of digital book readers and 68% of digital audio book listeners are subscribed to a platform.
Furthermore, the potential of the subscription market is high: 50% of readers of digital or digital audio books who are not yet subscribed say they are interested in an offer, reports the National Publishing Union.
Image credits: Reimond Mar Depra / Pexels
Par Federica Mal winter
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