Spanish and Latin-American publishers see strong gains in local markets. The number-one market for audiobooks in Spanish published by companies in Spain and Latin America used to be the U.S., but that has changed in recent years.

A study conducted over the winter by Javier Celaya, founder of Bilbao, Spain–based Dosdoce.com, revealed that consumer behavior is quickly shifting and publishers are adapting. The study, “Profile of the Spanish Audiobook Market,” was published in March and surveyed publishers in Spain and Latin America that account for about 95% of Spanish-language audiobook sales. In 2018, the reporting publishers’ biggest market was the combined markets of Spain and Mexico, then the U.S. The publishers surveyed predicted that in 2019, Spain alone will be their biggest market, with sales there estimated to be as high as €7 million. They predicted that Mexico will be the second-largest market, followed by the U.S., then the rest of Latin America.

The sales growth in these areas is being spurred by the same factors that have led to strong audio sales gains in the U.S. With better technology and more streaming options, consumers have greater access to digital audiobooks than they used to, and that has led audio publishers to significantly increase their output in the past couple of years, with virtually all audiobooks produced in digital format. In 2017, 6,000 audiobooks were published in Spanish; 8,000 were published in 2018; and more than 10,000 are expected to become available in 2019. These figures might seem small compared to the roughly 50,000 audio titles released in English last year, but the English-language market is larger and more mature.

Read full report here: Publishers Weekly