APA says audiobook sales hit $2.43 billion in 2025. AI narration was 0.03%
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R. S. Breed Founder
The Audio Publishers Association's annual figures came out on 5 June. Audiobook sales for 2025 were $2.43 billion, up 9%. AI-narrated titles made up 0.03% of revenue.
The second number is the one that stuck with me. For all the noise about AI narration (Spotify only announced its ElevenLabs narration on 21 May, and Amazon's Virtual Voice has been around since 2023), it's a rounding error in what listeners actually paid for last year. Three hundredths of one per cent.
Some caveats, in fairness. It's 2025 data, so it predates the newest tools. AI narration on the big platforms is still mostly invite-only, which limits supply. And share of revenue isn't share of titles. There could be a lot of AI audiobooks out there each earning very little.
Still. The market is growing, and listeners are spending that money almost entirely on human-narrated books. If someone has told you AI narration is now the only realistic way for an indie to do audio, that figure is a useful thing to have in your back pocket.
Does anyone think this shifts quickly? Or is audio going to be the format where a human performance stays the default?