Audiobooks of non-fiction work for me because I'm listening in otherwise dead time: when I'm driving there is nothing else to do. The average person [US?] spends 50 minutes a day alone in their car. That if you use that time to listen to a non-fiction book and learn something you are a better person. If you zone out and decide you don't care to rewind to where you zoned out it isn't a loss.

I don't think fiction would work this way, too much of the plot depends on what happened on the last page. However non-fiction if you miss point B but get A, D, and part of C you are still better even if you never go back to learn what B was or fully grok C.