Audiobooks (Russian market)

E-books (Russian market)

Main article: E-books (Russian market)

2023: Russian book services began to use neural networks to voice books

On January 23, 2023, it became known that Russian book services began to use neural networks to voice books. In particular, the portal "Strings" (owned by MTS) is engaged in such a project, which by the end of 2023 is going to voice more than 10 thousand works using artificial intelligence MTS AI. Read more here.

2022: Reduction of the market by 3-5% to 3.3 billion rubles

The volume of the Russian audiobook market in 2022 amounted to 3.3 billion rubles, which is 3-5% less than a year earlier. This is evidenced by the data of the Litres group published in May 2023 (combines the services Litres, MyBook, Livelib, Litres: Samizdat, Litres: Reader and Litres: Library).

The revenue growth of Litres in 2022 then also slowed down - + 15% against + 27% in 2021. According to Kommersant, the slowdown in revenue growth affected not only Litres: Boris Kuznetsov, director of the Rosman publishing house, says that one of the reasons for the failure of the first half of last year were payment problems. In particular, the main factor was the disabling of payments in the App Store and Google Play. Because of this, the outflow of users was also felt by the Bookmate service.

The Russian audiobook market in 2022 showed a decline of 5%

Co-owner of the Eksmo-AST group of companies Oleg Novikov, in a conversation with Vedomosti, said that sales of audiobooks in the Russian Federation in 2022 decreased by 11%. He estimated the volume of the entire digital book market for 2022 at 11 billion rubles, which, according to Novikov, corresponds to the indicator of a year ago.

After leaving Storytel (Russia the application stopped working in the Russian Federation on October 1, 2022), a free niche was formed on the audiobook market. It was actively filled out primarily by Yandex and Lines, said the ex-head of the Association of Internet Publishers Vladimir Kharitonov.

Kommersant's interlocutor in the audiobook market confirms that the introduction of AI has become a catalyst for market growth. According to him, many not so popular works were voiced precisely using artificial intelligence. In particular, this applies to little-known novels and non-fiction, which do not require "theatrical" processing.^[1]

2020

Rospechat: electronic and audiobooks will be subject to preferential VAT of 10%

On September 2, 2020 Rospechat , it was reported that electronic and audiobooks will be subject to a preferential VAT 10%. Deputy head of the department Vladimir Grigoriev linked this initiative with efforts to support publishers of books and periodicals in the conditions. COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

The representative of Rospechat said that the draft resolution on the introduction of a preferential tax rate on value added for electronic and audiobooks by the beginning of September 2020 was agreed in the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Economic Development, after approval by the Ministry of Finance, the resolution will enter into force. The signing of the document will take place in 1-2 months, after which "we will congratulate our platforms distributing electronic and audiobooks," he said.

Rospechat: electronic and audiobooks will be subject to preferential VAT of 10%

In the midst of the pandemic, we have made a number of efforts to include in the list of types of periodicals of book products related to the culture subject to a 10% value added tax credit, adding audiobooks and electronic books there, "Grigoriev said (quoted by Interfax), adding that" this is good help.

Since 2019, the usual VAT is 20% of the price of goods.

At the end of March 2020, book publishers and periodicals, distributors and polygraphists asked the government for help, complaining of losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. They referred to the deterioration of the situation in the economy, the devaluation of the ruble and the fall in purchasing power, as well as the closure of bookstores.

According to forecasts of the Russian Book Union, the volume of the book market in 2020 will at best decrease by 25% or 15 billion rubles. In the first half of the year, the industry missed 12-13 billion rubles of income due to the coronavirus, for which online book sales increased by 30-40%.^[2]

The most popular readers of audiobooks

According to experts, the segment of audiobooks in Russia as of January 2020 is developing rapidly.

The format of modern audiobooks at this time is very diverse: the work can be voiced by one or more (usually two) actors, voice acting can be accompanied by a sound series (music, audio effects, etc.). Professional actors and announcers, amateurs and even the authors themselves can read the work. Voice acting performed by:

• Sergey Chonishvili,
• Alexandra Klyukvina,
• Alexandra Bordukova,
• Alexey Borzunov,
• Vsevolod Kuznetsov.

The total cost of voice acting is influenced by the popularity of the reader, the use of additional effects, the duration of audio, the level of the recording studio.

What literature is listened to in Russia

Data from a sociological survey show that the majority of users (89%) listen to audiobooks from a smartphone. Most often, recordings are listened to in the car (50% of respondents), at home (44%) and on the street (30%). The average age of an audience ready to pay maximum amounts for content (300-500 rubles) is from 35 to 44 years.

When discussing whether audiobooks compete with traditional paper publications, most experts agree that these formats have different consumers and different goals. Some people combine two ways to get acquainted with the book, for example: at home he reads a paper version, and on the road he listens to audio. The simultaneous release of an audiobook and a print edition often gives a synergistic effect, and the book becomes more popular than publications published in the same format.

In addition, for publishers, audiobooks are a way to keep a portion of an audience whose reading habit depends. For example, before a person went to work in public transport and read on the road. Then he changed his place of work or began to drive a car. He no longer has the opportunity to read, but there is still a desire to receive information or follow interesting stories. If such a person is offered an audiobook in time, it is highly likely to keep him as a client.

If we talk about genre preferences, Russians often listen to popular science literature on business, self-development, health, psychology. Publishers attribute this to the fact that such literature contains a lot of "water," and it is a pity for many to specifically spend time on it. At the same time, such books are convenient to listen to the background during some activities: on a walk, on a treadmill, at the wheel, during cleaning. Fiction requires more attention, there you have to follow the plot, and if you miss something - rewind. Therefore, her share among audiobooks is lower. Among audiobook fiction, publishers estimate that listeners favor fiction, fantasy and detective stories.

According to experts, the main difficulty in selling content is the fight against stereotypes. Many people still, for various reasons, are not ready to pay for content if they have the opportunity to find it for free, even if it turns out to be illegal. Therefore, experts believe that the seller's task is to offer such a price so that it is easier for a person to pay a certain reasonable amount, in his opinion, and get quick access to the necessary information than to look for a free option, which, moreover, may not suit him in quality.

As for the acquisition of copyright, modern writers are most often interested in the maximum number of channels for the distribution of their work. Therefore, when signing a contract with a publisher, they usually give permission to release audiobooks. Some even voice their own works, but this applies mainly to non-fiction. In the case of classics, most often the issue of copyright is not worth it. Voicing works is solved much easier and does not require royalties. Therefore, it is often possible to find several options for voicing classical works.

2019: Biblio enters audiobook market

In 2019, another company appeared on the audiobook market - Biblio. The service was launched on the basis of a popular social network. As of January 2020, there are about 10 thousand publications in the catalog, you can buy one book or subscribe. Before buying, it is possible to listen to the familiarization fragment (about 15 minutes) to decide on the choice. Since the project was launched recently, it is too early to draw any conclusions about success and profitability. Also, information about attachments is not disclosed.

From the very beginning, there was an emphasis on the legality of the content. In addition, the service plans to host exclusive content. To do this, the company entered into agreements with several publishing houses, including Soyuz and Albina Publisher. The service is not going to be limited to audiobooks alone. The possibility of making available listening to audiobooks without an Internet connection (while the service is available only in streaming mode) is being considered. In general, the creators are still studying user requests and, based on this, make adjustments to the company's development plan and the development of additional services.^[3]

2018: Audiobooks share in book market 1.2%

In 2018, the book market in Russia grew by 7%, to 69 billion rubles, Kommersant Publishing House reported with reference to Eksmo-AST. Printed books accounted for 92.1%, electronic books - 6.7%, and audiobooks - only 1.2%. "Eksmo-AST" predicts that by 2022 the market will increase to 88 billion rubles, and the main drivers will be sales of electronic and audiobooks - they will grow by 30% and 40% per year, respectively. At the same time, sales of printed books will show an increase of only 5%, Eksmo-AST expects^[4]

In the Russian paid audio content market, the service has the largest share (about Litres 50%). In 2018, they sold more than 2 million audiobooks - twice as many as last year.

The Swedish Storytel service is also gaining popularity (about 15% of the market).

But compared to Europe and the United States in Russia, audiobooks still occupy a very small market share - about 1% (for comparison, in the United States - almost 10%).

2017: Audiobook sales up 25%

In 2017, sales of audiobooks in Russia increased by 25%.

2000s: Ardis, Soyuz, Sidikom and Empire of Sound release audiobooks

The active growth of the audiobook market began at the beginning of the 21st century. One of the pioneers of the industry, the Ardis recording studio, had only 30 recordings in its assortment. After three years, the figure increased almost tenfold and exceeded 250 items.

For a long time, small studios were engaged in dubbing books - Ardis, Sidik, Soyuz, and Empire of Sound. But when it became clear that this segment began to gain popularity, the giants of the industry - EKSMO, AST, Amphora - drew attention to the audiobook format. They had an advantage - working directly with the author, they could immediately buy the rights to voice the book from him at the stage of negotiations.

XX century: Audio versions of books on radio, on records and CD

In itself, the audio format of literary works is not something fundamentally new. Audio versions of literary works were distributed back in the USSR - from records to radio plays, although the latter are not audiobooks in the literal sense of the word. The appearance of first audio cassettes, and then digital media, was the impetus for a new development of this direction. The user is not tied to a radio point or bulky player and could listen to the recording outside the home. Another significant breakthrough was the development of the Internet and the ability to listen to and download content online. Previously, when audiobooks were recorded on CDs, many shopkeepers were slow to introduce them into the range. Therefore, many potential buyers simply could not get hold of them. With the advent of the Internet, this problem was solved, but another arose - the distribution of illegal content.

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