Spotify is rolling out audiobooks in Kenya from 14 Oct 2026 as part of a global expansion offering eligible users more than 350,000 titles.

The company said eligible Spotify Free and Premium users can access books alongside music and podcasts already available on the platform.

“Books change how we see the world,” Spotify vice president of audiobooks Owen Smith said.

The launch gives Kenyan publishers and self-published authors another distribution channel through Spotify for Authors and access to listeners beyond the local market.

Spotify said its Audiobooks+ plan offers 15 hours of audiobook listening each month for Ksh489.

Listeners can buy a 10-hour top-up for Ksh589 or purchase an individual title to keep.

The company did not provide individual book prices in its announcement and said pricing and access models vary by market.

Spotify said all its audiobook partnerships are non-exclusive and Kenyan authors can upload their recordings through its publishing platform.

The service also provides publishers and authors with information about who is listening to their work.

Spotify said Kenya’s catalogue will grow as new partners join and local authors upload their books.

The company said its dedicated Audiobooks section supports searches and browsing alongside recommendations based on listeners’ music, podcast and book preferences.

Its Page Match feature lets readers move between print books, ebooks and audio by finding the corresponding place in a story.

Listeners can scan a book’s ISBN barcode and use page numbers to locate their position in the audiobook.

Spotify said more than one million readers have used Page Match and the feature works in more than 30 languages.

The platform saves listening progress across more than 2,000 supported devices so users can continue a book on another device.

Listeners can also download audiobooks for offline use and set a sleep timer to stop playback.

Spotify said monthly audiobook listeners grew nearly 40 per cent over the past year as listening hours increased more than 30 per cent.

Audiobooks+ has attracted more than one million subscribers since launching just over a year ago according to the company.

Spotify said its wider platform has 777 million users including 300 million Premium subscribers.

Users can access the new service by updating the Spotify app and opening the Audiobooks hub or searching for a title.

They can then choose a book and add Audiobooks+ through the service before managing their plan through their Spotify account.

The company plans to expand audiobook availability from 22 markets to more than 180 by the end of 2026.