“So far, we haven’t seen any truly successful productions that manage without human voice-over artists.”

According to your latest figures, Germany is the BookBeat Group’s fastest-growing market. How does the German market currently differ from other European markets?

We are indeed seeing varying rates of growth across the countries in which BookBeat operates. Poland, for example, is currently growing the fastest within the BookBeat Group. To some extent, this can certainly be explained by differences in ‘maturity’ – by which we mean the extent to which streaming has already become established in a market. In the Nordic countries, this is already further advanced than, for example, in Germany, where audiobook streaming is still relatively new and has only been a major topic in the industry for less than ten years. At the same time, this relatively new phenomenon of streaming is coming up against the strong and long-established culture of audiobooks and radio plays that we have in Germany. Together, these two factors are driving strong growth.

Which factors are currently the biggest drivers of growth? Are there particular genres or target groups that are fuelling growth in Germany in particular?

At BookBeat, we have observed for many years that our target audience of young women is driving our growth. Keywords such as BookTok and reading clubs spring to mind here – these trends are also evident at BookBeat, and indeed we see many of the books that achieve cult status on BookTok featuring at the very top of our charts as well. These are often romance or romantasy titles, but also novels, non-fiction and biographies that deal very authentically with the social realities of the target audience’s lives.

How has collaboration with German publishers changed over the past two to three years? What expectations do publishers now have of a streaming service that were not even on the radar a few years ago?

I believe that publishers know exactly which data and analyses can help them make publishing decisions. The analytics tools we offer our publishing partners – for example, via our Publisher Portal – and which we are constantly expanding, enable highly detailed analyses, insights and forecasts that can be just as interesting and informative for the sales department as they are for the editorial team. However, it’s also worth noting – and this is important to me – that, as always, a touch of luck and the editors’ gut instinct play a part in selecting the material to be released as audiobooks!

Last but not least: it goes without saying that a streaming portal should continually evolve, including its app, and offer new, useful features that meet listeners’ needs; this is certainly a legitimate expectation on the part of publishers. Smart features to make tracks as easy to find as possible, tailored recommendations based on individual listening preferences, and the presentation of the extensive catalogue in a way that is as personalised, meaningful and appealing as possible – these are essential aspects that a streaming service must deliver.

What potential applications for AI do you see at BookBeat in the coming years – both for users and in collaboration with publishers?

When it comes to AI voices or AI-generated text, it is certain that more and more publishers will be experimenting with them to varying degrees. So far, we haven’t seen any truly successful productions that manage without human narrators – especially as popular German narrators play a major part in the success of an audiobook. A publisher would often be ill-advised to do without the big-name narrators, who have frequently built up a loyal fanbase of their own. Nevertheless, there may well be audiobooks that are produced entirely using AI voices or supported by AI in the recording process. Here at BookBeat, we make sure to communicate this transparently to our customers and, accordingly, require the same from our publishing partners. As part of the AI debate, we have also introduced a feature in our app that allows our customers to exclude AI-narrated audiobooks from search results if they so wish. Fundamentally, we leave the decision as to whether or not to listen to an AI audiobook entirely up to our customers.

Internally, we use AI, for example, to continually improve the organisation of our vast audiobook catalogue and to recommend the next listening experience that is as personalised as possible for each customer. Or to make information that may be important when choosing the next title more easily accessible. For titles with lots of customer reviews, for example, we provide a short summary that highlights the key points from the reviews at a glance.

The audiobook market continues to grow rapidly. Where do you currently see the biggest challenges – in terms of competition, content acquisition or customer acquisition?

As far as competition is concerned, we believe that any new competitor operating fairly can only be good for the growth of the audiobook market as a whole. Audiobooks are no longer a niche phenomenon, but have become an everyday companion for many people – and this trend is set to continue!

As a book person, the term ‘content acquisition’ makes me cringe a little – I believe that the book industry has always been about finding exciting, informative, entertaining, educational and inspiring new authors and topics, and helping to make them successful. In my view, nothing fundamental has changed in this respect, even in the age of streaming.