MUMBAI:
Audible, an Amazon company and a leading global provider of original spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks, released its lists of Most Listened To content, across genres and formats (podcasts and audiobooks) for the year of 2023 on Audible India.
Among the standout titles that made it to the Top 5 Most Popular Podcasts were Shrimad-Bhagavad Geeta: Voice of Krishna and Marvel’s Wastelanders: Star-Lord (Hindi Edition), those that ranked in the Top 5 Most Popular Audiobooks in 2023 were Complete Chanakya Neeti and Atomic Habits.
Featuring in the Top 5 Newly Released Podcasts in 2023 were Marvel’s Wastelanders: Star-Lord (Hindi Edition) starring Saif Ali Khan as Peter Quill and Marvel’s Wastelanders: Hawkeye (Hindi Edition), where Jaideep Ahlawat brought Clint Barton’s character to life. The Hindi Audible Original podcast series had listeners hooked to the Marvel universe that took them 30 years into the future to a post-apocalyptic world. The Top 5 Newly Released Audiobooks in 2023 included titles across genres such as Energize Your Mind, Doglapan, and The Hidden Hindu among others.
Well-being and self-development topped the charts when it came to the Top 5 Most-Listened-To Genres by Indians. Popular audiobooks and podcasts that listeners tuned into this year were Do Epic Shit, 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think, Habits for Happiness and Roz ke Mantra Om Swami ke Saath, among others. Claiming their positions in the Premium Plus category for 3 years in a row were Atomic Habits and The Psychology of Money, indicating that Indians are in a quest for motivation that helps them grow and evolve.
Fiction and romance featured as the second favourite genre among listeners, where Permanent Roommates: He Said, She Said (Season 1 and 2) starring Nidhi Singh and Sumeet Vyas, Little Things: Jab Dhruv Met Kavya (Season 1) voiced by Mithila Palkar and Dhruv Sehgal, and Piya Milan Chawk 2 written and narrated by Divya Prakash Dubey made it to the Top 5 Fiction and Romance Podcasts second year in a row. Audiobooks that made it to the list include The Immortals of Meluha and Dark Matter continuing to be the most-loved titles in this genre.
Pop-culture and memoirs were widely sought-after categories and passed the ‘vibe-check,’ with titles such as The Sandman, Act I (Hindi Edition) written by Neil Gaiman, and voiced by a talented cast including Tabu, Vijay Varma, Manoj Bajpayee, Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast, My Experiments with Truth by Mohandas K. Gandi, and Autobiography of a Yogi narrated by Ben Kingsley featuring in the top 5 most listened to titles within the genre.
Religion and spirituality was another popular genre on the service, making Shrimad Bhagwad Gita (Hindi Edition) and Energize Your Mind the most popular audiobooks, reigning over both the classics and the newly released categories. Listeners also turned to revered epics to seek wisdom from lessons in podcasts such as Suno Mahabharata Devdutt Pattanaik Ke Saath and Shiv Purana Devdutt Pattanaik Ke Saath.
2023 also witnessed a ‘stream’ of starry debuts on the audio streaming service with renowned actors taking to Audible for the first time with titles like Marvel’s Wastelanders: Black Widow (Hindi Edition), a sci-fi and fantasy title, headlined by Kareena Kapoor Khan and Masaba Gupta, Siyaah, a thriller headlined by Jimmy Shergill; and Desi Down Under, a coming-of-age story voiced by Adarsh Gourav, Taaruk Raina, and Prajakta Koli, among others.
Karen Appathurai Wiggins, Head of Content, APAC Audible, said, “It’s been an exceptional 5 years for Audible’s service in India and a rewarding journey understanding the diverse preferences of the audience. As we commence the next chapter, we are committed to pushing the envelope further by bringing the audiences what they love – authentic storytelling from unique voices across the country through a collection of immersive audiobooks and podcasts.”
