YouTube looking to implement new feature that's proved extremely popular on Spotify

YouTube is looking at adding audiobooks to its offering to widen the appeal for Premium subscribers. Audiobooks are a feature of Spotify's subscription plans, alongside music and podcasts.

The details of YouTube's plans come from the Wall Street Journal (via 9to5Google), although there doesn't appear to be any acknowledgement from YouTube itself.

The Google-owned service has been expanding its offering beyond user-generated video for a number of years. Shorts was launched to offer short-form social video, while YouTube Music was launched in 2015, eventually replacing Google Play Music.

Google already offers audiobook sales through Google Play Books, but adding access through YouTube would help solidify one Google-owned entertainment platform, with subscription access offering a rival experience to Amazon's Audible.

YouTube Premium currently offers ad-free videos on YouTube, ad-free YouTube Music, background play and downloads, for £12.99 / $15.99 a month. The biggest appeal is ad-free YouTube videos for those who watch a lot of YouTube content, but the addition of audiobooks might appeal to a different type of subscriber.

Spotify offers audiobooks and ad-free music for £12.99 / $12.99, with access to 15 hours of audiobooks and ad-free music.

The addition might also reflect changing listening habits. Music services have seen wide adoption of podcasts, which have become something of a trend; with the rise in spoken word listening, audiobooks aren't a huge leap, providing access to books without the need to read them.

According to Spotify in October 2026, audiobook listeners grew by "nearly 40% over the past year", while listening hours is claimed to have "climbed more than 30%". That's probably where Google's interest has come from, capturing those people before they hop over to another platform.

Spotify offers audiobooks outside of its music subscriptions at £8.99 / $9.99 a month, while Audible offers £5.99 / $8.99 a month, or £8.99 / $14.95 a month, plans.

Audiobooks aren't just an AI version of the written book, they're often voiced by well known actors. For example, Audible has Bram Stoker's Dracula voiced by Ella Purnell, Maggie Gyllenhaal and others, while Spotify offers the Harry Potter series narrated by Stephen Fry.

It makes sense for YouTube to make this move, but currently there's no confirmation that it's going to happen.