BookBeat develops its Italian catalogue by signing a distribution agreement with Pottermore Publishing

BookBeat, one of Europe’s leading streaming services for audiobooks, is strengthening its Italian catalogue by entering an agreement with Pottermore Publishing, the publisher of the internationally beloved Harry Potter series.

Since its launch in October 2022, BookBeat has witnessed positive growth in Italy and the data demonstrates that it’s a market with great potential for the years to come. Industry statistics observe a 5% increase in Italian audiobook listeners across all services in 2023, compared to 2022. Audiobooks are a form of entertainment Italians enjoy more and more, and BookBeat looks forward to making more people discover fantastic stories.

“We are very happy about the launch in Italy and the results we got since then. In comparison to other BookBeat countries, we noticed a similar trend when it comes to gender split, as the majority of our listeners are women.. On the other hand, it seems like our listeners are slightly younger than the average in Europe, which makes it even more important for us to work with the Pottermore Publishing team” says William Jakoby, Chief Business Development Officer at BookBeat.

The agreement with Pottermore Publishing will allow BookBeat users to discover the wizarding world in audio. This will be a great addition to BookBeat’s catalogue allowing the service to please the many Italian Harry Potter fans already using BookBeat and to attract new ones in the app.

“The Harry Potter books are best-sellers in all the markets we operate, and we have no doubt it will be similar on the Italian market, especially with a great narrator like Francesco Pannofino bringing these books to life.” says William Jakoby.

“As the global digital audiobook and eBook publisher of J.K. Rowling's beloved Harry Potter series our goal is to try and ensure each generation of readers and listeners discovers their magic. We are glad to be working with BookBeat to help fans, old and new, experience the Italian recordings.” says Jennie McCann, Managing Director of Pottermore Publishing.

Reaching this agreement also means that BookBeat is officially working with all the biggest publishers in Italy and can provide the most relevant content on the Italian market. The Harry Potter books will join a catalogue full of new premium titles, like “La vita intima” by Ammaniti and eternal classics like “Cecità” by Saramago, both in the lead for the most listened audiobook on BookBeat since launch.

“We aim to work closely with all publishers to offer an attractive and diverse catalogue to our users. The agreement with Pottermore Publishing adds an important piece to our expansion project in Italy and it fits in the plan of making Italy a potentially leading market for audiobooks in the upcoming years. Our next step is now to add new Italian BookBeaters to the team, keep investing and keep growing.” concludes William Jakoby.