Spotify has announced that audiobooks are rolling out in Kenya, giving eligible Spotify Free and Premium users a new way to discover and enjoy books by their favourite authors, alongside the music and podcasts they already love on the platform.
From 14 October 2026, listeners in Kenya can find their next great book on Spotify, right alongside the music and podcasts they already love, with more than 350,000 titles from day one.
The launch forms part of Spotify’s global expansion of audiobooks from 22 markets to more than 180 by the end of 2026, bringing a catalogue of more than 350,000 titles to more than 750 million people who will be able to stream or purchase them on Spotify.
From the morning commute along Thika Road to a lunch break or the final moments before bed, audiobooks offer another way to make the time people already have feel better spent.
With 15 hours of audiobook listening each month for KES 489, equivalent to around 30 minutes a day, Audiobooks+ makes it easier for listeners to fit stories into their everyday routines without having to find extra hours in the day. Listeners can also buy a 10-hour top-up for KES 589 or buy an individual title to keep.
“Books change how we see the world, and the people in it. For a lot of people, audiobooks are how they find their way back to reading, on the commute, on a walk, or at the end of a long day,” described Owen Smith, Vice President (VP) of Audiobooks, Spotify.
According to the VP, bringing audiobooks to more than 180 markets means millions more people can discover that, and authors and publishers can reach readers they’ve never been able to reach before.
Features made for everyday listening include Page Match, where subscribers can read a few chapters in bed, then pick up the story on their morning commute, right where they left off. More than one million readers have used Page Match to move between print, ebook and audio. Now listeners can simply scan a book’s ISBN barcode and use page numbers to find their place. Page Match works in over 30 languages.
Other features include A home for books where there is a dedicated audiobooks space in the app to search, browse and discover, with recommendations based on what each listener loves across music, podcasts and books; Never lose your place: Spotify saves your progress across the more than 2,000 devices it’s available on, so you can start on your phone and carry on in the car or on a speaker. Sleep Timer: where one sets a timer for nighttime listening so the story stops when you drift off; and Listen Offline: where one downloads audiobooks to listen to without a connection, just like music and podcasts.
Primarily, Spotify believes authors should find the largest possible audience, which is why all of its audiobook partnerships are non-exclusive.
Through Spotify for Authors, local publishers and self-published authors in Kenya can upload their audiobooks and reach listeners in more than 180 markets, with insights into who is listening. The catalogue in Kenya will keep growing as new partners join and local authors upload their work.
In retrospect three years ago this fall, Spotify brought audiobooks into Premium to build a better home for book lovers, authors and publishers.
Over the past year, monthly audiobook listeners grew nearly 40 per cent, and listening hours climbed more than 30 per cent. Since launching just over a year ago, Audiobooks+ has grown to more than one million subscribers.
Meanwhile, for subscribers to get started, they are required to update to the latest version of the Spotify app and open the Audiobooks hub or search for any title and, thereafter, choose a book and add Audiobooks+. Next, they should manage their plan at spotify.com/account and then press play with pricing and access models varying by market.
By Michael Omondi
