BookBeat Launches in the U.K.

BookBeat Launches in the U.K.

Bonnier Books started BookBeat in 2015 with a clear mission: be part of creating a sustainable digital market for primarily audiobooks while driving growth among new target audiences. As the next stage in the process, the digital book service has started up for British users.

It’s the third market following broad launches in Sweden and Finland during 2016. BookBeat’s CEO Niclas Sandin talks about expanding into the new market.

Why did you choose the U.K. as your next market?

For us, the British market was an obvious choice. It’s one of Europe’s biggest but also is the fastest growing when it comes to digital audiobooks. Where you have a new market forming, it’s always good with competition, and we plan to be part of driving the continued growth there. It’s also that English-speaking countries are one of the focus regions for international growth for Bonnier Books.

How are you launching the service?

There’s no reason to change the concept that we’ve got in Sweden and Finland when it comes to first getting a handle on understanding users and what drives them, and then putting the pedal to the metal. So we’re going to start out in the first few months by testing different types of marketing while we fill in our catalogue with new publishers and great books. Once we feel we have a good grasp on the British market, we’ll plan on upping our pace later in the spring.

Any other news from BookBeat?

At the same time that we’re starting up in the British market, we’ve also signed agreements with a number of British publishers to have their books available also in our Swedish service. In a few days, the Swedish service will be adding over 10,000 English books, both new books and classics.

British users can start a trial subscription to BookBeat for free at www.bookbeat.co.uk.