Edison Research at SSRS presented a webinar reviewing the findings from its recent study on AI and human audiobook narration on Thursday, September 10th at 2 pm ET.
View the Webinar on YouTube >>
Edison Research at SSRS randomized more than 1,000 U.S. fiction audiobook listeners into two cohorts. Each heard excerpts from the same sci-fi thriller audiobook, produced either with a single-narrator human recording or with Spoken AI multi-cast narration, and rated what they heard before learning how it was made.
Megan Lazovick, Vice President, Edison Research at SSRS, presented the findings alongside Philip Marshall, Founder & CEO of Spoken, The AI Audiobook Company™, which commissioned the study. Watch the webinar to learn:
- How each audiobook narration style performed in a blinded test, including where human narration rated highest and where AI narration rated highest
- What listeners revealed they want most in audiobook narration and what this signals to publishers
- How willingness to listen changed after the AI audiobook narration was revealed
- Purchase intent for AI-narrated audiobooks
- And more!
Michele Cobb, Partner, Forté Business Consulting, moderated a Q&A session following the presentation.
The findings are a timely resource for publishers, authors, narrators, audio producers, and marketers tracking how consumer expectations for audiobook narration are shifting.
Megan Lazovick and Philip Marshall are available for interviews before or after the webinar. To arrange, contact Megan Lazovick, mlazovick@ssrs.com.
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About Spoken
Spoken, the AI Audiobook Company™, enables authors and publishers to create immersive, multi-voice audiobooks at a fraction of the cost and time of traditional production.
Purpose-built for storytelling, Spoken Multi-CastTM layers proprietary agentic AI with emotionally nuanced voice synthesis to deliver high-quality, character-driven performances.
Authors can choose from custom AI-generated voices crafted exclusively for their characters or AI-cloned voices from professional narrators, each of whom gets paid with every use. Spoken’s mission is to help storytellers tell stories in ways never before possible. Learn more at www.spoken.press.
About Edison Research at SSRS
Edison Research at SSRS is the leading audio, media, and trends market research practice in the world. Through survey research and innovative measurement approaches, we provide landmark data and insights on consumer behavior and emerging trends in the U.S. and more than 66 countries worldwide.
Our world-renowned studies include Share of Ear®, the only single-source measure of all audio consumption in the U.S.; Edison Podcast Metrics™, the only survey-based measure of podcast listening in the U.S.; and The Infinite Dial®, the survey of record for media and technology trends since 1998.
Press Contact: Karin Bandoian, kbandoian@ssrs.com