A third of erotic audiobooks downloaded by men

More men are listening to erotic audiobooks, making up almost a third of the market, with a quarter of all Fifty Shades of Grey downloads from male listeners.

Research revealed this week from Canadian company Audiobooks.com also showed that the commute is the most popular time for people listening to erotica. In 2017 32% of men were listening to erotic audiobooks, said the firm, up from 30% in 2016 and 24% in 2015.

The audiobook service’s data shows that one in eight users (13 per cent) are downloading erotica, with the most popular time to listen to these racy stories being during commuting hours. The company’s research revealed that books within this genre are more likely to be listened to during the hours of between 8am and 10am and from 4pm to 6pm.

Fifty Shades of Grey (Cornerstone) was the most popular erotic audiobook with 25% of male listeners, while cowboy romance Touch Me Gently (Dreamspinner Press) by J R Loveless came second place with the same ratio of listeners.

“There is clearly an appetite for erotica amongst both men and women and it’s funny to think that, unbeknown to fellow passengers, people are listening to these books during their commutes,” said Ian Small, c.e.o. of Audiobooks.com.

“That’s one of the great things about audiobooks – you can plug in and listen to whatever you like without revealing what you’re listening to. We’ll keep expanding our range of titles as interest continues to grow.”

Audiobooks.com launched in the UK in October with a catalogue of 70,000 titles and Small revealed to The Bookseller the company plans to open a UK office in 2018.