Industry figures for 2003/2004

Total turnover for 2003/2004 was £70 million, a 6% increase on the previous year's figures. Of this £46 million was spent on audiobooks for adults and £24 million on audiobooks for children.

Cassettes still outsell CDs - £42.3 million cassette sales against £27.7 million CD sales but the gap is closing and the SWPA predicts that CD sales will outstrip cassette sales by 2006/7.

"The figures are very encouraging", comments Barry Clark, Chair of the SWPA, "but there is still a great deal to play for. Many people now automatically slip an audiobook into their car stereo when setting off on a journey but the challenge for our industry is to reach even more consumers."

"We are very pleased with our audiobook sales and are looking forward in particular to an excellent Christmas performance in this area", adds Rodney Troubridge, Audio Buyer at Waterstone's, "We are delighted that publishers are embracing the full potential of CDs and we are working closely with audiobook publishers to develop the market - the potential for growth is very exciting".