Background: Audible is Amazon's audiobook platform, founded in 1995 before being acquired by Amazon in 2008 for around $300 million USD. Today, it's the world's largest producer and distributor of audiobooks, with more than 800,000 titles available.

What happened: Audible has traditionally charged $15.99 a month in Australia, giving subscribers one credit each month to permanentlyown an audiobook. But now, it has launched a cheaper plan that allows users to listen to as many audiobooks as they want each month.

What else: Unlike the original plan, the new tier doesn't give monthly credits to keep a book forever. Instead it works like a streaming service. And clearly, this move is aimed at competing with Spotify's growing audiobook offering.

What's the key learning?

💡When a new competitor enters your turf, standing still is not an option. Spotify changed the audiobook game by bundling its audiobooks into its Premium subscription, so Audible was forced to respond.

💡With more than 600 million users globally, Spotify suddenly exposed audiobooks to a massive audience without asking them to pay extra. More than half of Spotify's 281 million Premium users have already engaged with audiobooks, and listening has grown 36% over the past year.

💡By launching its own streaming-style tier, Audible is trying to match Spotify's model while leaning on its much deeper catalogue of titles.