BITE Insight

There’s nothing better than sitting down, curling up or going to bed with a good book. Yet all too often those sedentary moments can be hard to steal. The growing popularity of podcasts and audio books means our stories can now accompany us in the car, doing the house work and even at the gym. Whilst purists might argue the only way to truly engross yourself in a book is by reading, I’ll happily confess I’ve spent many enjoyable hours listening to the Welsh lilt of Jon Ronson whilst marching to work.

Audiobook purchases now account for 5% of consumer book spending in the UK. Audible, whilst a market leader, still needs to inspire more people to use audiobooks and become the app of choice when they have mindful time to fill.

Summer is always a key time for the growing industry. The audiobook saves valuable space in the carry-on, and solves the achy arms, sun in the eyes, melting spine issues that comes from combining sunbathing and your favourite read.

This summer DRUM partnered with The Guardian to create ‘Listen Up’, a 24-page guide to the best audiobooks, podcasts and audio dramas. The guide included articles for travel-lovers such as ‘The Listener’s Guide to Literary Greece & Paris’, ‘Critically Acclaimed Audiobooks for Easy Beach Listening’, and helping parents with ideas in ‘How to Keep Your Kids Entertained on a Summer Road Trip’. We also directed readers to the different types of content available on the app.

Alongside the guide, DRUM partnered with Shazam to enable users to scan the supplement with their smartphone and listen to extracts from popular audiobooks. The partnership was supported by 16 articles online, a takeover of The Guardian’s Books page and sponsorship of the Guardian Books podcast.

The content encouraged people to try out Audible by showing off its breadth and the quality of the production, and in doing so helping readers make richer use of their down time this summer.

Full case study here