Spotify has released its first numerical report on its audio book service in France, which launched at the end of 2024. The data shows that usage in France has grown significantly faster than in other countries where audio books are available on the platform. This growth is driven by a particularly young audience: 45% of audio book listeners in France are under 35 years old, compared to 43% globally. In just one year, Spotify recorded a 63% increase in the number of audio book listeners in France, far exceeding the global average of 39% growth in audience and 32% growth in listening hours. The platform has invested one million euros in content for its audio book service in France. The data reveals that listeners are engaging with classic literary works, such as The Odyssey, which saw a 752% increase in listening hours, The Iliad with a 102% increase, and Sense and Sensibility with a 370% increase. These works benefited from recent cinema adaptations, which likely boosted their popularity among audio book listeners. Spotify has planned a hybrid feature called Page Match, launched in early 2026, which allows users to scan a page of their physical book using the camera on their smartphone to instantly switch to the exact passage in audio. The feature also enables users to determine which page they were on in the physical book if they want to go the other way. According to Spotify, the system scans a page every 4 seconds, and users who use this hybrid method can read 2.5 times faster than usual. This process aims to remove any friction between physical and digital reading formats. More than one million users in the first countries where the scanning function was available have already adopted Page Match, with the under-35 demographic making up two-thirds of the users. Access to audio books on Spotify is available to Premium subscribers, with up to 12 hours of listening per month. Users can also recharge their listening time through options like Audiobooks Plus or by purchasing individual titles. The French catalog currently includes more than 25,000 titles and is set to expand further. Spotify has announced plans to expand its audio book service from 22 to more than 180 markets by the end of the year. This expansion will be supported by non-exclusive contracts, a "Spotify for Authors" portal, and cross-promotion between music, podcasts, and books. Publishers and self-published authors can upload their French audio books through the "Spotify for Authors" portal, which provides detailed audience analysis, including age groups, gender, listening countries, and retention time. This information helps authors calibrate their international distribution strategies. For example, a French author invited on a podcast can have their audio book recommended directly to the listeners of that episode. Similarly, an artist publishing their autobiography can promote it to their music listeners through pre-order pages with countdowns and, in the long run, during the annual Spotify Wrapped recap. Spotify faces competition from Audible, Amazon's well-established audio book service, which offers a monthly credit system, exclusive content, and integration with the Kindle and Echo ecosystems. Spotify's approach, however, is to offer an all-in-one application model without additional technical barriers. This hybrid approach also competes with Kobo e-readers (sold by Fnac), direct purchases from Apple and Google, and specialized subscription platforms such as Nextory, Storytel, or the French service Prose.