Audible’s month-long Story House pop-up in lower Manhattan attracted more than 7,000 visitors, giving the audiobook company an unusually large opportunity to observe how existing and potential listeners engage with its service in person. Marketed as a “bookless bookstore”, the space sought to make audio content tangible and its findings may influence how Audible reduces friction and improves personalisation in its app.

The three-floor venue at 260 Bowery offered 301 audiobook titles through RFID-enabled physical “Story Tiles”, listening areas, a Dolby Atmos theatre, staff recommendations, events, crafts and a café. Audible recorded more than 15,000 deeper engagement experiences, while 98% of titles were sampled; popular choices included *Project Hail Mary*, *1984*, *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone* and the *Dungeon Crawler Carl* series. The company now has 13,000 remaining Story Tiles and is considering further uses for the technology.