The West African internet gods are in fickle mood today, so just a summary here of what is unquestionably the biggest story so far this year, as Storytel announces its ambitions for the next few years.
2020 is intended to be a year of consolidation, with “only” 1-3 new country launches, but that will be followed by some serious expansion in 2021 through 2023 with a stated intention to reach twenty new markets by the latter year, taking the total to forty.
Revenue growth is expected to average 40% per year during the period, with 2020 seeing turnover reach SEK 2 billion ($210 million).
Subscribers numbers are expected to average 35% growth, with 1.5 million subscribers by end 2020.
Already profitable in five markets (Netherlands being the fifth profitable market as we started 2020), Storytel expects to reach profitability in 2-4 new markets this year, and states it anticipates to on average take five years per market to break even.
Storytel starts the year with a catalogue of 300,000 titles.
Back in October 2019 it was announced Storytel had secured a $50 million credit facility, so the aggressive expansion plans announced today will come as no surprise.
For an overview of Storytel’s 2019 progress to reach this point, check out the TNPS Story of the Year.
Per opening remarks, I’ve been struggling with internet access this past 24 hours, but it looks like the problems have been fixed and I’ll return to this story again in the near future.
Digital subscription will drive the Global New Renaissance in the new decade, and Storytel will be one of the key players.
