Listen and Learn: Audible and Pearson Partner on Audio Only Study Guides

摘要

In mid-May, Audible, a provider of digital spoken audio content, and Pearson Education, an educational publisher, announced a partnership to develop and distribute audio-only study guides to college students as a supplement to Pearson's textbook product line. Slated for release in the fall, this joint venture initially will offer "about 100 products in the top 50 collegiate courses," according to Gary June, CMO for Pearson Education. "The product, however, is not a straight textbook replacement; it's a supplementary product. Think of it like Cliffs Notes: You've done all the reading and you want an inexpensive way of refreshing yourself." The overall market for collegiate textbooks has been estimated to be between $4-$6 billion. Of course, as June points out, "audio doesn't work for every single kind of course. I can't imagine an audio-only engineering course. It really works in humanities, social sciences, and business." June goes on to estimate the best case scenario for the size of the market for this particular content niche to be about $250 million.