With the world’s obsession with AI and every shiny, new technological advancement, it might be perplexing to see the sustained popularity of audio fiction. In some ways, it feels like an archaic form of entertainment, something your grandmother might have tuned into once a week. And you wouldn’t be wrong: audio fiction has been immensely popular throughout the ages. It first emerged as radio plays, which exploded in popularity during the 1920s, leading to the world-changing "War of the Worlds" broadcast in 1938. According to Edison Research, in early 2023, 75% of Americans aged 12 and older reported that they had listened to online audio in the past month.