Speech has been recorded and listened to for many decades but now the audience is more popular than ever. They have been used for many different reasons the most popular are for entertainment, audiobooks, and educational like learning languages and tour-guide.
Recorded on different mediums such as vinyl records to cassettes and now digital, spoken word recordings have always been pursued by a niche audience as they have never hit the mainstream or never seen be as entertaining as music, film or even a book.
Of course the most popular type of this is audiobooks as many do love to read but are too busy to and so they listen while they drive, work or even relax as it is much easier. This also is helpful to visually impaired and completely blind would find it much more useful listen through a reading of the book and whenever they want and most consistently listened to are podcasts as they are episodic and released everyday, week or month depending on the site you listen on. The same people listen to the podcast every episode like a television show as viewers can rise from hundreds to thousands regular viewers or even more.
Recorded on different mediums such as vinyl records to cassettes and now digital, spoken word recordings have always been pursued by a niche audience as they have never hit the mainstream or never seen be as entertaining as music, film or even a book.
Of course the most popular type of this is audiobooks as many do love to read but are too busy to and so they listen while they drive, work or even relax as it is much easier. This also is helpful to visually impaired and completely blind would find it much more useful listen through a reading of the book and whenever they want and most consistently listened to are podcasts as they are episodic and released everyday, week or month depending on the site you listen on. The same people listen to the podcast every episode like a television show as viewers can rise from hundreds to thousands regular viewers or even more.
The Audio Publisher's Association had conducted surveys on the audiobook market recording the annual growth of the audiobook market showing how more and more people have started to listen to this medium of entertainment and their is more market demand. The industry has been estimated a size of a billion dollars. '46% of consumer survey respondents have listened to an audiobook at some point (compared to 37% in the previous study in 2010) and 24% have listened to an audiobook in the last year (compared to 19% in the previous study).' (1)
The specific demographic are mostly adults of no particular age as any age could listen and enjoy audio books. Although digital copies are much less consumed by those that are much less experienced with Computer technology like the elderly and those that have no access to this.
Research also shows that they are more bought by adults of higher education as those that go university must read many books in a short amount of time and continue to read while in their career and old age. Over those that have less qualification and lower career class as they have been less encouraged and much less interest in reading so they are more likely to pick up a book than consider and audiobook.
This meaning that the market can't reach those that don't read and can't hit a more mainstream audience yet. Kids have also started to listen as 46% of listeners have children under 18 and also listen to audiobooks and feel that it is more beneficial to be able to get more into listening to a reading of books for their education.(2)
The genres of audiobooks most popular among regular listeners and non listeners are mystery, thriller/ suspense books as 58% agree that these would sound much more entertaining spoken than in print. Bestsellers and general fiction fall behind it and non fiction and history at the end.(2)
The specific demographic are mostly adults of no particular age as any age could listen and enjoy audio books. Although digital copies are much less consumed by those that are much less experienced with Computer technology like the elderly and those that have no access to this.
Research also shows that they are more bought by adults of higher education as those that go university must read many books in a short amount of time and continue to read while in their career and old age. Over those that have less qualification and lower career class as they have been less encouraged and much less interest in reading so they are more likely to pick up a book than consider and audiobook.
This meaning that the market can't reach those that don't read and can't hit a more mainstream audience yet. Kids have also started to listen as 46% of listeners have children under 18 and also listen to audiobooks and feel that it is more beneficial to be able to get more into listening to a reading of books for their education.(2)
The genres of audiobooks most popular among regular listeners and non listeners are mystery, thriller/ suspense books as 58% agree that these would sound much more entertaining spoken than in print. Bestsellers and general fiction fall behind it and non fiction and history at the end.(2)
Spoken word recordings in a non-commercial setting like audio-tours for galleries and museum are useful as they give insightful commentary on the subject and are normally cheap or free for the user depending on the place and length.. This is very helpful for students as they might want more history and meaning for research for their work. And for those just interested in the subject. This can sometimes be available in more popular galleries like the Louvre as many people travel to see these and wish to know more about them.
The Louvre is a great example of a place that cares about the experience of the consumer using the audio tour. As it is a world famous gallery that has you guide the museum how ever you want rather than following the directions that your told to. It does this by using a 3DS XL video game console by Nintendo, and supported by Nintendo, as you can use an 'interactive map on the dual screen of the DS, means you can’t get lost'. It also 'tracks your position and you’ll be guided through the museum step by step.' You can tell that the art is extremely important as those that made the audio tour provided '700 descriptions of the Louvre’s galleries and artworks.' On the site it even gives you instruction specifically on how to rent this product. The full price is €5 and €3 for under 18 which is super cheap and easily available for everyone. Available in 7 languages English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Italian, Japanese and Korean all from countries with great economic development. Implying that those that are more up the class ladder are more likely to visit and also major universities are located in these same countries meaning its also aimed at to help students.(3)
The Louvre is a great example of a place that cares about the experience of the consumer using the audio tour. As it is a world famous gallery that has you guide the museum how ever you want rather than following the directions that your told to. It does this by using a 3DS XL video game console by Nintendo, and supported by Nintendo, as you can use an 'interactive map on the dual screen of the DS, means you can’t get lost'. It also 'tracks your position and you’ll be guided through the museum step by step.' You can tell that the art is extremely important as those that made the audio tour provided '700 descriptions of the Louvre’s galleries and artworks.' On the site it even gives you instruction specifically on how to rent this product. The full price is €5 and €3 for under 18 which is super cheap and easily available for everyone. Available in 7 languages English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Italian, Japanese and Korean all from countries with great economic development. Implying that those that are more up the class ladder are more likely to visit and also major universities are located in these same countries meaning its also aimed at to help students.(3)
Most spoken audio is not used for non commercial use as the producers of these must make money to keep producing either through advertising on a podcast or selling audiobooks.
Those that are visually impaired or have a disability to read like dyslexia benefit the most from audiobooks and such as they would find this most easiest rather than being read to or using Braille. There are many sites and services that help the totally and even partially blind with audiobooks like RNIB (4) as they offers a cheap subscription service of £50 a year for any audiobooks for those that have the disability. Another site called Calibre (5) also offers audiobooks without subscription and only require you give £20-£30 without any charge after. They don't charge for late, lost or damaged books either making them very helpful for those with any disability to read.
Audiobooks are here to stay and will be for a long time as their is a growing demand for it in the coming years. Eventually they will become the norm and hopefully the majority of the consumer world will buy audiobooks like they would with film, music and video games. If this is the case it would further improve the market for books as more people of varied age and gender will listen, entertained and most importantly learn from them. As their are more different types of audiobooks available and appeal to people more easily as anyone can find their niche like in music. They're also much easier to get into and the industry doesn't direct to any specific group but anyone can have their own because the industry is so vast and no specific type is advertised more than any other making them more up to the choice of the consumer to find their own audiobook.
No. Source URL
(1) http://independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1611
(2) http://www.audiopub.org/2010ConsumerSurveyreleasefinal.pdf
(3) http://www.louvre.fr/en/museum-audio-guide/practical-info#tabs
(4) http://www.calibre.org.uk/page.aspx?sitesectionid=90&sitesectiontitle=Frequently+Asked+Questions
(5) http://www.rnib.org.uk/services-we-offer/reading-services
(2) http://www.audiopub.org/2010ConsumerSurveyreleasefinal.pdf
(3) http://www.louvre.fr/en/museum-audio-guide/practical-info#tabs
(4) http://www.calibre.org.uk/page.aspx?sitesectionid=90&sitesectiontitle=Frequently+Asked+Questions
(5) http://www.rnib.org.uk/services-we-offer/reading-services