Spanish This is radio country It is always like that. Don Katzo he knows it, he worked here as a journalist covering Franco’s death, and maybe that’s why he chose to visit this country to celebrate 25 years of the audiobook service he founded one day: Sound.

The proof that audio has been Spain’s par excellence format for many years is that podcast consumption in Spain currently exceeds major European countries such as the UK, France or Germany.

According to a survey conducted by Sound, 48% of Spanish listeners are repeat customers. This percentage is much higher when compared to countries like Italy (41%), great Britain (38%), German (36%) or France (33%).

Audible, an audiobook and podcast company owned by amazon, founded in the 1990s by Katz. Previously, this American manager had been a journalist and worked with media such as deliver, sports illustration, one of rolling stonea magazine he covered when he was only 23 years old franco’s death.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons that made him visit Spain in Audible 25th anniversary (which also celebrates 2 years of activities in the country this October). On the occasion of this celebration, Katz has given an exclusive interview to Spanish Business Insider.

In conversations with the founders, topics such as Spain’s passion for voice formats, the company’s position on the use of artificial intelligence in voice over and what to expect from next 25 years Audible.

Future prospects, podcast division and the use of artificial intelligence

Audible’s future plans include audiobooks, as is always the case, but also broadcastthe format they distinguish as Audible Original. The company’s founders assure that they’re not exactly the same: “Usually someone literally talks into their computer with whatever they want to say.”

Katz says it’s “really great,” but argues that the podcast format is different. “We want it for anyone in Spain, which is newsworthy or creative, or has entertainment value. We have all the acceptance of the artistic community to make a production and I would like to think that there is no end to that level of creativity“.

Audible’s general director in Spain, Juan Baixeras, has joined at this point of conversation to emphasize that they are innovating with multiple formats.

“We will bring back works such as radio soap operas, with dramatization in audio format. We take very dense books, such as All this I will give to you by Dolores Redondo, Planet Award from several years ago, and we will release it in an ‘audio-drama’ format,” he said.

Baixeras argues that innovation comes from the hands of the format: a book in multiple voices with 10 or 15 chapters different from the estimated duration of 30 minutes.

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Audible, however, has ruled out innovation in the short term on other issues, such as its use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for its audiobook dubbing.

“The first synthetic sound came out in 1985 And if you’re listening today and you’re listening to the best text-to-speech processor of the day… it lacks nuance“, said Audible founder Don Katz. “It’s a technology we know well, but it’s not a major one for us just because there are so many amazing actors out there.”

Baixeras supports Katz by providing an example: “We are currently launching the final book of Almudena Grandes with sound Aitana Sanchez Gijon. This is just one example of the sounds, famous in Spain, that we produce to produce the best audiobooks.”

Unite with Amazon and catalog expansion

sound is bought by Amazon in 2008 and, when asking Katz about the acquisition process, he assured that, both he and Audible, what they were looking for at the time was stability.

The founder explained that, looking back, This union has allowed them to have a “truly independent” brand, culture and business model. from the tech giant. “It’s been a very productive partnership, but also a real prize because if you read our principles, we have our own way of thinking about the world and how people relate to one another.”

The productivity indicators of the relationship between the two companies can be seen from the Audible catalog: 700,000 titles in Englisha number that has grown exponentially in recent years and the growth that Katz predicts will soon be replicated in Spain.

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Once again, Baixeras joined the discussion to support the arguments of his company’s founders. “we started” 2 years ago with catalog 6.700Now we have 14,000 titleswhich means that we have twice as many titles as 2 years ago,” he stressed.

“We have made great efforts, in terms of brings together the entire creative community of Spainto be with us and launch this service”, added Baixeras. “We can say that we are very successful now in Spain”.

The Spanish passion for audio and the peculiarities of the format

The founders of Audible point out that each culture or country in which they operate has its own “interesting traditions” and points out that this is the case for Spain with radio, a relationship that dates back to the 20th century, with the birth of radio. soap operas, and who made them”the most talented creator of societycome together and produce a phenomenon.

“There are so many talents in this country related to actingand production, all kinds of writers and screenwriters, which only makes sense if Spanish culture explodes with audio,” he says. Talent that, according to Katz, relates directly to the user experience.

“The listener’s perception is that it’s a private show just for you,” explains the podcast and audiobook company founder. “You are alone in your car or you have your headphones on… The emotional and psychological nature of a person acting for you or talking to you or, in the case of teachers, teaching you how to live a better life… Create intimate scenesKatz synthesizes.