Spotify adds audiobook playlists & conversational search

Spotify has introduced three new audiobook discovery features in its app: playlist creation, conversational search and series navigation for eligible Premium users in selected markets.

One addition is Prompted Playlist for audiobooks, which lets listeners generate playlists by describing what they want in their own words. Users can ask for broad recommendations based on genre, mood or themes, or for more specific lists tied to subjects such as recent screen adaptations or shorter monthly listening choices.

Audiobook playlists created through the tool can be refreshed daily or weekly. The feature is rolling out in beta to eligible Premium users in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden.

Spotify is also adding a conversational search tool that lets users type or speak to discover music, podcasts and audiobooks. Listeners can ask follow-up questions during a session, including requests for recommendations or factual questions about a title they are currently hearing.

The feature is available in English to eligible Premium subscribers aged 18 and over in the US, Ireland and Sweden. It can also switch between music, podcast and audiobook requests within the same exchange.

Audiobook push

The new tools are part of Spotify's broader effort to make audiobook discovery easier on the platform. Audiobooks have become an increasingly important category for streaming groups seeking to expand beyond music and increase listening time in their apps.

Another change addresses a familiar problem for listeners who finish one book in a series and want to continue immediately. Spotify will now recommend the next title as soon as a user finishes a book. Multi-part works will also be labelled and grouped on dedicated series pages that show the reading order.

Author profile pages will also display the series written by that author. The next-in-the-series feature is available in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden.

Spotify has been testing recommendation tools based on free-text prompts in other parts of its service. It introduced Prompted Playlist in beta for music, later expanded it to podcasts, and has now extended the format to audiobooks.

More than half of users who tried the prompt-based feature for podcasts found a show that was new to them, according to Spotify. It did not provide equivalent figures for audiobooks, which are only now being added to the system.

James Jacoby, Senior Director of Engineering & Insights, Audiobooks at Spotify, said the company's focus is reducing the effort needed to find books. "Books are one of the most powerful ways people spend time on Spotify, and our focus is making it easier than ever to discover great stories and stay immersed in them," he said.

He added that Spotify wants to remove barriers between listeners and titles that match their interests. "With these new features, we're reducing the friction between listeners and the books they'll love, helping people spend less time searching and more time inside the story, while advancing our mission to get more books to more people," Jacoby said.

Market rollout

The rollout is not global and varies by feature, suggesting Spotify is still testing how people use the tools. Prompt-based audiobook playlists and series continuation are launching across seven English-speaking and Nordic markets, while the conversational assistant is available in a smaller group of countries and only to adult Premium users.

Some elements of the audiobook playlist feature may change during the beta period, and usage limits are in place while Spotify tests the service and gathers feedback. That points to a measured expansion rather than a full platform-wide release.

The latest changes show how streaming services are trying to make discovery more conversational and less dependent on traditional search menus. In audiobooks, where listeners often commit many hours to a single title, the ability to find the next book quickly may prove as important as the recommendation itself.

Books in multi-part sagas will now be marked, and dedicated series pages will map out the reading order.