According to Investing.com's summary, The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 14, citing people familiar with the matter, that YouTube is in talks with publishers about an audiobook feature that could launch next year. This is a report, not an announcement from YouTube.
What the report says
Investing.com says the talks follow discussions in recent months, and that YouTube has considered including the feature in YouTube Premium, which it puts at $15.99 a month. It says it is unclear how the content would be presented or whether individual books would cost extra.
Investing.com adds that the service would compete with Spotify and Amazon's Audible, which it describes as leading the market. Its summary doesn't include a comment from YouTube.
What you can get today
Spotify says Premium Individual is $12.99 a month and includes 15 hours of audiobook listening a month from a subscriber catalog, which it puts at more than 700,000 titles. Spotify's audiobooks page lists an Audiobooks+ add-on with 15 extra hours for $11.99 a month.
Audible's home page lists Audible Standard at $8.99 a month and Audible Premium Plus at $14.95 a month, each with a 30-day free trial for new members. It also shows a Prime member offer of $0.99 a month for four months plus a $20 credit, ending Oct. 19.
The plan the report says YouTube has considered is YouTube Premium.
Why it matters
Our assessment: the Investing.com summary gives no confirmed launch date or audiobook pricing, and says it is unclear whether books would cost extra. Whether a Premium bundle is worth having depends on those details. Until they are known, Spotify and Audible are the two services the report names.
