Audio streaming service Pocket FM has on July 26 announced a distribution tie-up with e-commerce marketplace Flipkart as it looks to expand its user base.
Through this partnership, Flipkart will offer bestsellers such as Dale Carnegie's The Art of Public Speaking, Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, Ankur Warikoo's Do Epic Shit, and Shwetabh Gangwar's The Rudest Book Ever among others. These audiobooks will currently be available in Hindi language with plans to add support for other Indian languages soon.
Users can buy the audiobooks on Flipkart, following which they will be sent an unique code on email, which they can use to listen to audiobooks on Pocket FM.
Pocket FM claims that the majority of these bestseller audiobooks are exclusive to its platform. The startup entered the audiobook market in March this year and claims to be selling over 120,000 audiobooks on a monthly basis.
"This will help authors publish their work on our platform with the aid of audiobooks and give them the opportunity to reach out to our customer base. Flipkart will assist the author in receiving the appropriate exposure. We believe this collaboration will hold immense strategic importance for the audiobook market in India as we continue to address our users' appetite for regional content" said Kanchan Mishra, Business Head- FMCG, Home and General Merchandise, Flipkart.
Flipkart rival Amazon also offers audiobooks in India through its own platform Audible that forayed into India in 2018. Other players in the audiobooks space include Google, Pratilipi, Storytel and Kuku FM. Audio streaming service Spotify had also expressed its intentions to enter the market with the acquisition of Findaway in November last year.
Founded in 2018 by Rohan Nayak, Nishanth Srinivas, and Prateek Dixit, Pocket FM says it provides more than 100,000 hours of long-format audio content across audiobooks, shows, stories, novels, podcasts and knowledge shows in English and seven Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, and Marathi.
It claims to have a creator community of over 200,000 professional user-generated content (PUGC) writers and voice artists.
The startup raised $65 million in Series C funding led by Goodwater Capital, South Korean internet giant Naver and existing investor Tanglin Venture Partners in March 2022.
"Given the strong penetration of Flipkart in the country across diverse consumption categories, this partnership will only strengthen our efforts and help our publishers and authors community reach a wider audience, generating significant revenue from audiobooks," said Ashu Behl, SVP - Content, Pocket FM.
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