The Audiobook and E-book Streaming Application "Storytel" will be operating in Indonesia soon

Application audiobook and streaming e-books overall Storytel announced its presence in Indonesia in the second half of 2021. Storytel appointed Indriani Widyasari as Country Manager for Storytel Indonesia.

In an official statement, Regional Manager for Storytel Asia Pacific, Elin Torstensson, said that the appointment of a Country Manager is an important beginning of the plan to launch Storytel services in Indonesia. Indriani will be tasked with introducing the concept audiobook to be accepted by society.

"It is hoped that later books in Indonesian will enrich the service database" audiobook Storytel, which currently has reached nearly 340 million users in the Asia Pacific region," he explained, Friday (30/4).

Prior to joining Storytel, Indriani had more than 11 years of experience in the digital business world in Indonesia. He has served as Director of Marketing at Zilingo Indonesia and Country Manager of Paktor. His strong experience in the digital business world, from launching, developing, improving services, to his leadership style in building a strong team, Indriani is expected to bring Storytel to grow in Indonesia.

Storytel estimates that the current market value audiobook global reach $4,7 billion and will grow 15% per year until 2030. This increase is supported by the popularity of audiobook and eBook (only in Dutch at the moment) in recent years. In the modern era, people's interest in literature remains high, starting to shift to digital forms, such as audiobook which is easily accessible via mobile.

Presence audiobook is expected to strengthen the market, as well as provide new opportunities for writers and book publishers. Meanwhile, according to a consumer behavior survey conducted by the Audio Publishers Association (APA), it was found that around 60% of listeners consume audiobook while relaxing at home. Due to the practical side, it is estimated that the adult audience will subscribe to the service audiobook on a large scale. Audiobook is predicted to be a new trend for book lovers in Indonesia.

“Storytel has prepared and continues to educate about the platform audiobook streaming that can be listened to while relaxing, exercising, or commuting to work, or while doing other activities that will later become part of daily life,” said Indriani.

Prior to its presence in Indonesia, Storytel had been present in the Asia Pacific region for four years. Starting from India in 2017, Singapore (2019), South Korea (2019), and Thailand (2020). To date audiobook from Storytel has reached book hobbyists in 25 countries around the world, including Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Israel, Germany, to Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Voice content industry trends

Audiobook can be categorized as one of the derivatives of sound-based content that used to be considered underrated. Thanks to the presence of technology and the shift in society in consuming content that is increasingly shifting to devices, making the popularity of podcast increasingly in demand which is now transformed into on-demand content because it can be enjoyed on various digital platforms.

DailySocial once write in depth related to podcast is starting to dominate the media landscape in a number of countries because it comes with a format that allows listeners to do other activities or multitasking. Referring to research Podcast User Research in Indonesia in 2018, variety of content and flexibility are two big reasons why consumers listen to this digital-based audio content.

Spotify which is now starting to take business seriously podcast is very interested in developments in Indonesia. They record consumption podcast Indonesians were the most in Southeast Asia last year. As much as 20% of total users listen podcast each month and the number is higher than the global average percentage.

Not to be outdone, local players have started to enter the same pool, among them there are Noice and PodMe.