Reinventing the book club: Audible and Twitch showcase how audiobooks and podcasts can be the perfect shared listening

Curling up with a good book is usually a solo experience. But what happens when the story ends? You’re probably filled with questions like: Will there be a sequel? Did others see that ending coming? Much like other readers who fall in love with a good story, you’re itching to chat with fellow book fans.

Audible Australia wanted to transform the book club experience. Collaborating with Twitch, Audible Australia created a branded community for listeners the called Audible Live Club.

Through the collaboration, Audible was able to expand its reach to a new audience and engage them with relevant Australian Audible Original titles. The collaboration saw impressive results with a 3.5% increase in click-through rates, 19% increase in brand recall and 27% uplift in likelihood of recommending Audible.1

Introducing audio storytelling to a video-loving community

Twitch is home to 1.5 billion hours of live video content every month and it’s filled with an audience who loves good storytelling and entertainment.2 Audible challenged itself to see how it could take a video-loving audience and introduce them to the excitement of audio storytelling. Audible was able to harness what Twitch is known for – creating communities around shared interests and activities. Through Audible Live Club, Audible Australia hoped to tap into an audience who would find audio storytelling engaging.

Audible Live Club took the solo experience of listening to a good book or podcast and transformed it into an interactive community experience on Twitch. Creators like Bajo helped promote Audible Live Club with the Audible Original Podcast “Nut Jobs”, which is narrated by Australian TV presenter Marc Fennell. During the livestream, Bajo said to his viewers about the podcast, “I wasn’t ready for it to be over”.3 To promote more engagement, Audible Australia gifted credits to Bajo’s viewers. Many were surprised and excited with some responding, “You made my day”, and “Oh wow, thank you so much, guys”.4

From custom Emotes to live storytelling, Audible leaned into Twitch’s unique culture

Leaning into the culture of the Twitch community, Audible Australia launched its first ever Awwdible Emote, an emoticon that users could use in the chat. This custom emote featured a purple koala wearing headphones.

The fun didn’t stop there. In December 2020, Twitch streamers IamFallfromGrace and Reapz, donning festive costumes, thrilled fans with a live reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol – with a twist. In their live reading, they took cues from the audience to insert sound effects and used props to enhance the storytelling.

The excitement spilled out of the Twitch community and onto social media feeds and even news headlines. Some articles reported on how Audible Australia’s campaign was able to connect with Twitch’s highly-engaged community of streamers and content creators to show them a new, interactive way to experience audio storytelling.

Reaching success with an engaged audience

Overall, the campaign caught attention far and wide with viewers tuning in globally. The interactive storytelling programme resulted in an 8% increase in brand ad recall and 5% increase in unaided awareness.5

The campaign was a success not just because of the numbers it drew in, but also because of the overwhelming requests from the Twitch community for another Audible Live Club stream. Audible Australia’s success on Twitch shows that even brands who are audio-led have opportunities to advertise on the website in creative ways. By reaching relevant communities, collaborating with streamers and leaning into Twitch’s unique culture, brands can find new ways to showcase their products.

1-5 Twitch Advertising case study Audible Australia, April 2021