Presented by Carlo Carrenho on December 2, 2025, at FIL Guadalajara’s Foro Audio 2025, this presentation examines what international publishers can learn from the highly developed audiobook markets of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.
Using industry data, Carrenho compares audiobook revenues, unit sales, genre preferences and subscription models across the Nordic countries. Audio represented 62% of units sold in Sweden in 2024, while subscriptions generated 96.2% of Finnish publishers’ audiobook revenue.
The presentation identifies the conditions behind Sweden’s audiobook success: a strong tradition of reading aloud to children, advanced digital infrastructure, widespread acceptance of subscriptions, high numbers of single-person households, limited early Kindle penetration and the domestic emergence of Storytel. Strong competition also helped expand and diversify the market.
The resulting “Viking lessons” are that market development takes time, publishers must support rather than resist audio, collaboration is essential, reliable market analysis matters and sustained marketing is indispensable.
