Audiobooks: why are they popular with Generation Z?
02/26/2025
5 min
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Streaming platforms are developing their ranges of audiobooks, which are particularly popular with the Generation Z, the audience born between the late 1990s and early 2010s. Paradoxically, while young people are reading less, books are increasingly being listened to.
Spotify has announced the roll-out in France and the Benelux countries of a new audio book offer, in partnership with major French publishing groups. And in the U.S., new audiobook users already spend an average of five additional hours on Spotify within the first 60 days. In a recent article in Le Monde, Antoine Monin, Managing Director of Spotify France and Benelux, clarified his plans. He pointed out that France is lagging behind its European neighbors in the audiobook sector, notably Germany, Scandinavia and the UK. According to a survey conducted by Opinion Way in 2024, 33% of French people have listened to at least one audiobook in the last 12 months. Young people aged 15 to 19 are particularly enthusiastic about audiobooks, with this sector showing the strongest growth this year.
The success of audiobooks in neighboring European countries can be explained by the strong take-up by young people, reflecting their changing consumption habits. They read on their smartphones, and the rising popularity of the audiobook is explained by their attraction to podcasts and streaming, which are particularly popular with young people when using public transport.
How can we explain the popularity of audiobooks, particularly among Generation Z? And what kind of experiences are they looking for when they listen to audio books?
Decline in reading: it’s time for audio books
A CNL report published by the Ministry of Culture, the Centre national du livre (CNL) and the Ipsos polling institute – focusing on 1,500 young French people aged 7 to 19 – highlights that the frequency of reading as a leisure activity is declining among young people aged 12 to 19. Less than a third of them claim to read “every day or almost every day”. From age 16 onwards, only 43% of occasional readers read several times a week.
Every day, children aged 13 to 15 spend 19 minutes reading for pleasure. And for the 16–19-year-olds, this daily reading time drops to 12 minutes (17 minutes for girls and just 7 minutes for boys!). Meanwhile, the time spent daily on screens reaches 3 hours and 11 minutes.
Reading and the use of screens go hand in hand for young readers: almost half of them admit to consulting screens (messages, social networks, etc.) while reading. These two practices can also complement each other: 44% of young people have already read an e-book. What’s more, at a time when audio is gaining in popularity, six out of ten young people say they have already listened to an audio book.
In 2024, there’s clearly more to the lives of the new generation than just videos. Audio continues to seduce the younger generation: 58% consider audio to be the most immersive format. The audio book is like an augmented book: it includes more than just the text being read. It incorporates atmosphere, music, changes in tone, etc.
Experience rather than possession
The smartphone remains the most popular device for reading e-books (42%) and digital audiobooks (56%). These media are perfectly suited to the travel habits of young people, who prefer instant access to the content that interests them, while attaching little importance to the possession of the book as an object. What’s more, young people often listen to audio books as part of a group or family activity, which is different from reading, which is a more independent activity.
This is in line with Holbrook’s work, which has shown that the possession of objects is less important to consumers than the value of the experience provided by the act of buying and consuming. For the new generation, it’s not so much about acquiring a product as sharing it with their peers.
Audiobooks and audio content in general have other reasons to exist. Indeed, 66% of Generation Z admit to using audio to reduce stress 72% see audio as beneficial to their mental health. What’s more, 62% feel that audio offers them an immersive and enriching experience.
For young people, audio is therefore becoming a veritable refuge, conducive to relaxation and safety. Whether it’s music, podcasts about mental health, white noise (or brown noise, which was very popular on TikTok this summer), or autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) these formats respond to a need for peacefulness and help young people find answers to their questions, even before discussing them with those around them.
Young and already nostalgic…
For young people, audiobooks offer a safe, reassuring space to explore their feelings and seek support. According to a report published in 2023 by GWI, a specialist in consumer trends, Generation Z is characterized by a strong sense of nostalgia: 15% of young people prefer to look to the past rather than the future.
The audiobook is an effective remedy for the stresses of today’s youth. The audiobook even perpetuates the ritual of the bedtime story their parents told them when they were still children, evoking a certain nostalgia for that moment. It extends the pleasure of listening to a story, offering an intimate connection with the past: the narrator’s voice, often soothing, and the possibility of reliving classic tales.
The audiobook: a way to build your identity
Introspective questioning seems to be particularly marked among Generation Z, with 73% of them declaring that they use audio to better know and understand themselves, compared to 65% of the previous generation. These figures come from a Spotify survey of 750 respondents aged between 15 and 40, conducted between March and April 2022.
In what way does the audiobook provide the confidence young people need to build their identity? In the past, individuals had a set, commonplace path that could be marked by certain events, milestones, rituals, or experiences such as graduating, passing the driving license, or a wedding. We’re seeing a decline in these rites, but the associated symbolism and values live on through tales, stories and literature, which are still very much part of young people’s cultural universe.
Nowadays, young people are forced to “cobble together” their own rites of passage, using products and/or social consumption practices. The audiobook and its practice can be used to help young people build their identity: it puts into words what they are experiencing, both physically and psychologically (anxieties, fantasies…) in a way that is not rough.
Elodie Gentina, Professor at IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221 – LEM – Lille.
This article is a translated version of an article originally published on The Conversation. The original article is available here.
