The milestone anniversary coincides with the Harry Potter audiobooks surpassing one billion listening hours on Audible.
Since its ground-breaking launch in 2012, Pottermore has become one of the most successful brands in digital publishing. From innovative products to exciting partnerships, for ten years, we’ve shared the magic of the wizarding world with listeners and readers around the globe.
As the company enters its second decade, we’ve reached an incredible milestone in our collaboration with Audible. Over one billion hours of the Harry Potter stories have now been listened to on the platform since they were first made available seven years ago. That’s equivalent to over 100,000 years’ worth of people listening to Harry’s magical adventures at Hogwarts!
The original, beloved narrations of the stories by Jim Dale (in the North American version) and Stephen Fry (in the UK and rest of the world in English language), were first launched on Audible in November 2015, and have remained top sellers ever since. Over the last seven years, Pottermore have worked with Audible to create Harry Potter audiobooks in a number of languages, as well as unique audio releases of other Wizarding World™ titles, including The Tales of Beedle the Bard which boasts an all-star cast including Jude Law, Bonnie Wright, and Noma Dumezweni; Harry Potter: A History of Magic performed by Natalie Dormer; and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them performed by Eddie Redmayne, just to name a few.
Jennie McCann, Pottermore Publishing MD says: ‘The original audiobook narrations are wonderful versions of these incredible stories. We took great care to remaster them to deliver the best sound quality and experience possible for every new generation of listeners. We’re grateful to Audible for making them brilliantly accessible to so many people.’
Diana Dapito, Head of Consumer Content at Audible says: ‘The evergreen popularity and insatiable appetite for the Harry Potter audiobooks on Audible is both staggering and, at once, not at all surprising. These unparalleled, beloved stories transport and mystify listeners through immersive, powerful audio magic. We are honored to be able to bring ‘Harry Potter’ to listeners around the globe through our collaboration with Pottermore.’
Stephen Fry, narrator of the UK editions of the audiobooks, says: ‘These statistics are astonishing. Almost every day someone will come up and tell me how important the audiobooks have been in their lives, and it means the world to me. From the first book, when it was all there was of Harry Potter in the world, to the final novel when the series had confirmed itself as THE publishing phenomenon of our age, the experience was never anything other than a total and eternally surprising joy for me. Hurrah for Harry and hurrah for all those listeners.’
Jim Dale, narrator of the US editions of the audiobooks, says: ‘Living with the ever-expanding Harry Potter family over these past twenty years has been such a joy. Especially rewarding for me has been the opportunity to touch the lives of so many young people, and the knowledge that my spoken words have brought both comfort and support when needed, and of course always so much magic!’
As we take a moment to celebrate these incredible milestones, we’re looking forward to the next ten years, with even more spellbinding projects to come.
