Illustration photo – The owner and producer of the AudioStory publishing house Jindřiška Nováková gave an interview to ČTK on August 23, 2021 in Prague.
Prague – The turnover of the audiobook retail market in the Czech Republic last year amounted to approximately 268 million crowns, which means a year-on-year increase of approximately three percent. The ratio of digital sales to physical media in audiobook sales increased from 66.6 percent in 2021 to 71 percent in 2022. Even so, over 252,000 physical media of audiobooks and spoken word were sold last year, compared to the previous year, when it was 240,000 physical media . This follows from a report on the audiobook and spoken word market in 2021 in the Czech Republic compiled on the basis of materials from members of the Association of Audiobook Publishers (AVA). The report is available to ČTK.
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According to her, in 2022, 644 new titles were published by the publishers that contributed to the AVA statistics, 65 more than the year before. Detective stories and thrillers have recently reached the peak of interest from the genres. Andy Weir's Savior read by Lukáš Hlavica, Leaning Church 2 by Karin Lednické performed by Jan Szymik and, for the second time in a row, Leaning Church by the same author interpreted by Vilma Cibulková became the best-selling audiobooks of 2022. The share of production by Czech and Slovak authors continued to grow, accounting for 69.49 percent.
“We are happy that even in the year when, after the end of the coronavirus pandemic, people could fully enjoy the full range of cultural and leisure activities, customers were again more interested in audiobooks. That books for listening can stand up to the huge competition from, for example, streaming video services or live entertainment, ” said the chairperson of the AVA Committee, Kateřina Konopásková.
However, audiobook publishers experience several barriers to the full development and dissemination of audiobooks. “It's about the tax burden on audiobooks, the threat of higher VAT, as well as illegal downloads and the impossibility of using company benefits and programs when purchasing them,” said AVA Committee vice-president Monika Oweyssi.
According to last year's research by the Audiolibrix e-shop, most people prefer audiobooks they listen between the ages of 45 to 54 and 35 to 44, preferably while doing housework, while driving a car or falling asleep in the evening.
The largest publisher in 2022 was OneHotBook, which increased its share compared to 2021 on the market by four percent to 21.5 percent, followed by the publishing house Tympanum (16 percent) and the third place occupied by the company Audiotéka (13 percent).
AVA is the publisher of the Audiobook of the Year survey, the results for 2022 will be published on 27 April. Agent became the absolute winner of the Audiobook of the Year poll last year. The documentary audio-reconstruction of the murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko also goes for 1st place in the Best Audiobook – Dramatization category. Actor Viktor Preiss received a special AVA award for outstanding contribution in the field of spoken word. Audiotéka publishing house won the most awards, four in total, in individual categories.
