The Spanish Language Markets audio industry grows 75% in one year

• Nearly 750 entities, compared to 423 in 2023, make up the Spanish Audio Industry Ecosystem in 2024
• Launch of an8 million euros financial package by the Spanish Government to foster the growth of the Audio industry.
• Although Spain continues to be the main place of origin of entities that make up the audio industry (40.27%), Latin America has had spectacular growth in 2023 (30.7%), reaching 37% of the total representation and the Hispanic market in the United States grew by 11.3%, reaching 15.7% of the total representation of entities in the Spanish-language audio industry.
• Artificial intelligence gains ground in the Spanish audio industry growing YoYby 290.4%.
• The audio-entertainment industry (podcasts, audiobooks, radio and streaming music) is expected to continue growing by around 10% worldwide thanks to revenues derived from subscription platforms, advertising revenues, branded content, sponsorships, etc., but with very different revenue contributions per audio format.

Madrid, January 24^th, 2024.  In just one year, the audio industry in Spanish-language markets (Latin America, Spain, and the US Hispanic market) has nearly doubled in size, growing 75% compared to the previous year. Dosdoce.com, a platform specialized in trends in the digital economy, has identified in its second edition of the “Map of the Spanish audio industry” 740 entities that carry out some economic activity in this new industry, compared to the 423 entities identified in the first edition of the map in early 2023.

The analysis carried out by Dosdoce.com reveals that the entities identified in the Spanish audio industry mainly belong to three economic activities. Specifically, 30.29% are sound content production studios, 22.10% are media outlets that are heavily investing in this new format to grow their audiences and 11.46% are audio streaming services that provide podcasts, audiobooks, audio dramas, sound fiction content, etc., in their platforms.

Over the last few years, we have witnessed how the consumption of content in audio format in Spanish has skyrocketed, creating an audio catalog made up of more than 100,000 podcasts and exceeding 25,000 audiobooks in Spanish, compared to the scarce audio contentin Spanish, less than 1.000 titles, from just five years ago.

An 8 million euros to foster the growth of the Spanish Audio industry.

In order to foster the growth of this new industry, as well as encourage greater creation of original content in audio format, the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Spainhas recently announced a financial subsidies package which amounts to up to 8 million euros for the promotion of the audio sector within the framework of the recently launched PERTE de Lengua Audio Space.

The financial package aid promotedby the Audio Space will be allocated to various modalities:

🔶 Podcast pre-production, production and distribution projects

🔶 Incubation, mentoring or project acceleration programs.

🔶 Professional events and cultural exhibitions related to the podcast.

The audio-entertainment industry (podcasts, audiobooks, radio and streaming music) is expected to continue growing by around 10% worldwide thanks to revenues derived from subscription platforms, advertising revenues, branded content, sponsorships, etc., but with very different revenue contributions. According to a Deloitte study, radio programs and podcasts are the formats that have the largest audience worldwide (4 billion radio listeners of which almost half – 1.7 billion listeners – also listen to podcasts), But they are the channels that generate the least income per listener for the industry: podcasts (US$3.5 billion) and radio (US$42 billion). On the other hand, audiobooks and streaming music barely reach one billion listeners worldwide; they are the formats that generate the most revenue per listener for the industry: audiobooks (US$7 billion) and streaming music (US$23 billion). In other words, radio and podcasts are the formats with the most audiences, but the ones that monetize the least due to the decline in advertising revenue, while the growing consolidation of the streaming music and audiobook subscription culture around the world indicates that this consumption model will generate more income per listener than previous formats.

Latin America and the US Hispanic market lead audio growth in 2023

Although Spain continues to be the main place of origin of entities that make up the content creation of the audio industry (40.27%), Latin America has had spectacular growth in 2023 (30.7%), reaching 37% of the total representation and the Hispanic market in the United States grew by 11.3%, reaching 15.7% of the total representation of entities in the Spanish-language audio industry.

Within Latin America, greater growth has been detected in Argentina, where 24.8% more entities have been identified compared to those contemplated in the map before this one. These are followed by Mexico and Colombia, which represent 21.76% and 19.85% of the total of Latin America, respectively, and for which 3% more new entities have been identified, in both cases. However, it is worth noting that a growth in transversal audio is being detected in all countries in the region, such as in Uruguay and Chile, with an increase of 14.4% and 8.2% respectively; and, in Brazil, where more and more audio content is listened to in Spanish, with a growth of 66.3% compared to the previous year.

At the same time, the Hispanic market in the United States grew by 11.3%, reaching 15.7% of the total representation of entities in the Spanish-language audio industry. In both cases, the growth is due to the emergence of new production companies, as well as entities that provide all types of services, such as marketing, hosting, or distribution, which just a year ago did not operate in these territories.

Within Europe and, with Spain at the top, the United Kingdom remains in the ranking of European countries that are most committed to audio in Spanish, contributing 4.03% of the entities, followed by the Nordic market, which contributes another 3.46 %.

The activities that grow the most in 2023 are services, media, and festivals.

Although the main economic activity of the sector continues to be the production of sound content, which represents 30.29% of the total entities in the industry, the activities that have grown the most throughout 2023 are:

• Companies dedicated to providing marketing, hosting, and distribution services, with an increase of 213% compared to the previous year.
• The organization of sectoral events and festivals, with a growth of 34.3% compared to the previous year
• The media, which is betting on audio with a growth of 22.8% compared to the previous year.

Spain continues to be the main producer of audio content in Spanish.

For the second consecutive year, Spain continues to be the main source of audio content creation in Spanish, representing 40.27% of the total entities in the audio entertainment industry. If we analyze the different economic activities, the audio industry in Spain is made up of 28.04% of production studios, 21.28% of media entities that invest in this format, 11.82% that dedicated to training related to the world of audio and 7.43% of streaming platforms. The rest of the entities included in the analysis (audio content distribution channels, training entities, publishers, libraries, etc.) have a minor presence.

Artificial intelligence gains ground in the Spanish audio industrygrowing by 290.4%

Regarding the evolution of the industry’s activities in Spain compared to the previous year, the categories that have experienced the most growth are those that promote artificial intelligence applied to audio (growing by 290.4%), entities dedicated to services (growing by 138.9%) and publishers that are committed to converting content from their audio catalogs (growing by 18.6%).

The commitment to the confluence of audio formats continues to boom.

This year’s data indicates that streaming platforms are increasingly committed to offering all types of audio content (podcasts, audiobooks, audio series, movie-podcasts, etc.) in their catalogs to enrich the listeners’ experience with a more extensive and diverse offering.

Today, almost half of platforms (49%) focus their catalog only on podcasts, compared to 45% the previous year. Platforms that only offer audiobooks are reduced to 31% compared to 38% the previous year. Meanwhile, 20% of platforms offer all types of audio content (podcasts and audiobooks), compared to 17% the previous year. In other words, the number of platforms that offer all types of formats is growing (17.6%), thus expanding their audience because of a catalog with greater diversity of audio content, especially young listeners. On the other hand, the number of platforms that offer only audiobooks decreases by 18.4% meaning that have realized that they need other type of audio formats to further engage with new audiences.

Audio Day Parix 2024

More than 35 international and national speakers will be part of AUDIO DAY PARIX, the first international meeting for professionals in the audio industry in Spanish which will be held on Tuesday, February 27, 2024at the headquarters of the Germán Sánchez Ruipérez Foundation in Madrid (Casa del Lector – Matadero Madrid).The latest global trends in the audio-entertainment industry, the reading behavior of audiobook listeners, the upcoming irruption in the Spanish markets of children’s content listening devices, the profile of the Latino listener in the Hispanic market in the United States, as well as keys insights in audio content marketing will be part of the extensive program of topics that will be discussed in the first edition of AUDIO DAY PARIX.

Research Methodology of the Map

To carry out the second Map of the Audio Industry in Spanish, the Dosdoce.com team has carried out extensive research during the months of October, November and December 2023 to analyze the evolution from one year to the next of the different economic categories related to the world of audio: production companies, media, platforms, training institutions, publishers, festivals and awards, media and sectoral references, libraries, experts in Artificial Intelligence developments and distributors.

Our goal is to continue updating this map annually to help audio industry professionals across the world better understand the evolution and growth of the Spanish Language Audio Markets

For more information

Javier Celaya

Email: jcelaya@dosdoce.com

Tel: +34.606.367.708