The Spoken World Podcast Kicks Off Season 2 with Interviews, News and Conference Recordings

Castle Rock, CO, March 12, 2026 --(PR.com)-- The Spoken World, a podcast series reporting the latest news and professional insights on all aspects of the worldwide $7 billion audiobook industry, returns this March for Season 2 with a schedule of interviews, news and conference recordings.

“I am excited about the breadth of reportage our podcast will bring to the audiobook industry,” said Christopher Kenneally, the program’s host and chief correspondent. “From AI-generated narration to immersive soundscapes, new markets to new languages, new audio sales channels and business models – listeners will learn about it on The Spoken World podcast,” Kenneally said.

Published every other Thursday, Season 2 of The Spoken World began on 5 March with an exclusive interview with Luis González, Managing Director of the Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez and Organizer of the recently-held Parix Audio Day Conference in Madrid. González discusses with host Kenneally the much-debated subject of whether listening to a book is the same as reading it.

Upcoming episodes in Season 2 will feature interviews with top industry figures and analysts from markets around the world who will share their latest insights on the opportunities, challenges, and innovations coming to the fastest-growing segment of book publishing.

According to DosDoce.com, a global leader in audiobook distribution consulting, more than half of adults in the United States have listened to at least one audiobook in the past year. In Sweden, 63% of books sold in 2024 were audio; in Germany, 82% of those over 16 consume streaming audio; in France, 31% of the population has listened to an audiobook at least once; and in Spain, 15% of people under 35 do so as well.

The second season of the podcast will also feature panel discussions and keynote speeches on the fast-changing audiobook industry from this year’s Parix Audio Day, London Book Fair and Frankfurt Book Fair.

Season 2 of The Spoken World also welcomes Penguin Random House Audio as its first podcast sponsor. Penguin Random House Audio is one of the premier publishers in the audiobook industry, with more than 25,000 titles in a wide-ranging global catalog.

Launched in March 2025 at The London Book Fair, the bi-weekly The Spoken World podcast has already garnered significant worldwide listenership and has earned prominent media coverage in Publishers Weekly and Podcasting Today.

The Spoken World podcast is produced by Burst Marketing, a leader in full-service podcasting and media production. A journalist and podcaster who has covered publishing and publishing technology for more than twenty years, Christopher Kenneally has previously reported for the New York Times, National Public Radio, and many of the world’s leading news organizations.

The Spoken World podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, Podimo, Ivoox, YouTube and many other leading global listening platforms and at SpokenWorld.Media.