WHY STUDIO OCHENTA IS BECOMING A MULTILINGUAL AUDIOBOOK PUBLISHER

11 JANUARY 2024, Dispatch from Ochenta’s Paris office

2023 was a rough year for the podcast industry. We saw dozens of layoffs and “restructuring” that gutted audio teams at some of the biggest studios and platforms in the world. But amidst the doom and gloom, some companies survived, got investment, or pivoted to take advantage of a new trend. At Ochenta we had to evaluate whether the very core of our work could find its place in a marketplace that just wasn’t buying… anything.

So we did some research, went to conferences, and had conversations with folks about what’s going on, and where we can go from here. The truth is, despite what folks are saying, audio still has a very big, very attentive audience. Podcast listenership grew significantly during ‘the worst year in podcasting’. More than that, it flourished into exciting new forms of consumption: short audio stories became bingeable in India and China, while the audiobook industry grew 40% year on year in Europe.

In a moment when most folks are doubting the future of audio, we realized that one fundamental thing hasn’t changed: people want to hear good stories.

They’re just listening in new ways. Now, monetizing that listener experience is our biggest challenge, and for that reason, we’ve decided to pivot.

This month we announced our biggest move yet. Starting in 2024, Studio Ochenta will be transforming from strictly a podcast company into a multilingual audio publisher, creating stories in audio for audiences worldwide. What does this mean? Well, it means we’re transforming the way folks access our original content. And not behind some fixed paywall, but in an entirely new format: audiobooks. We’ve signed a historic partnership with the international distribution platform BOOKWIRE to bring our original multilingual podcasts to audiobook listeners. (You can learn more about the partnership here).

But among the many ways that podcasts can be adapted into other audio formats, the big question is- why transform our podcasts specifically into audiobooks?

Money, Money, Money.

As explained above, 2023 showed everyone that the podcast industry is changing and it needs new creative sources of revenue. We can’t just rely on advertising revenue or commissioned work anymore. Audiobooks are a source of direct revenue sold to fans without the advertising middleman. In boom times and in low times, people are still buying books, and unlike other mediums like TV and Film that have succumbed to the streaming subscriber model, books still have that special something that makes folks want to buy them, own them, and enjoy reading them at their leisure. Blockbuster might’ve disappeared but the bookstore is still alive and well. Whether it's a physical paperback, an ebook, or an audiobook, it’s natural for a consumer to see the monetary value in the literary object they’re acquiring. Podcasts -especially the narrative kind- can and should take advantage of this cultural mindset and the direct monetization model that it offers.

A rose by any other name…

You might be thinking that comparing a work by Shakespeare with a podcast about plants is a stretch. But let’s have a look at a recent example from the nonfiction audiobook world. Have you listened to Britney Spears's The Woman in Me audiobook? Or perhaps you might have bought Jeannette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died, narrated by the author herself. If you take those two highly successful audio products and break them down into their main parts -a story and an engaging narrative voice-, then what else fits that description? A podcast. When you are listening to an audiobook, you’re listening to a podcast. It’s just not called that. And the same is true in the reverse. A podcast is essentially an audiobook in different packaging.

Of course, we have to imagine the user of an audiobook is going to have different habits, and different styles of listening than your average podcast listener, which is why you can’t just republish the same podcast and sell it as an audiobook. Which brings us to another big question - how we do this?

Podcasting’s Fairy Godmother

These days, your average (non-celebrity-hosted) podcast feels like Cinderella. Unappreciated, undervalued, doing the heavy-duty work of making great content, but not getting very much out of it.

What if we waved a magic wand and fixed that?

“What if we could put that podcast into a space where it will be appreciated by new, eager ears?“ According to Federation of European Publishers audiobooks are on the rise, up 112% in Denmark,177% in Italy,  and even 68% in the UK in 2022 versus 2021. In 2024, audiobooks will continue to represent a growing portion of a multi-billion dollar global industry. Podcasts can be a part of that world. We just have to show up to the ball in the right outfit. Transforming our podcasts into audiobooks is a careful process that includes reformatting, writing and adding new content, and essentially thinking of the audiobook user experience as the #1 factor in our production. The result: the same already successful podcast product, with its core values and content intact, wearing different, albeit fancier clothes, and accessories (sfx, music beds, extra juicy new chapters instead of episodes). And those changes, upgrades if you will, will surely make them the belle of the ball.

And don’t just take our word for it. A couple of other companies have quietly made this move too. Pushkin Industries has long since published its own audiobooks, and French company Nouvelles Ecoutes has transformed a number of its podcasts into books and audiobooks in the last year. Audiobooks and podcasts are birds of the same feather and at Ochenta we think bringing them together will mark the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Want to come along for the ride? Discover our first 7 audiobook titles already available in your favorite audiobook store in English, French, Spanish and Italian. Check them out at https://ochentastudio.com/audiobooks.

ABOUT STUDIO OCHENTA:

Curious to learn more about how Ochenta is transforming podcasts into audiobooks? Sign up for our newsletter here or contact our team to learn about how YOU can explore audiobooks as a new revenue source too. Contact us at https://www.ochentastudio.com/en/contact