Clearly the numbers Nextory is showing investors are hitting the mark. Earlier this year Nextory picked up $6 million in new funding. But in terms of judging just how well Nextory is really doing compared with rivals BookBeat and Storytel… For now at least that remains anyone’s guess.

With Storytel and Bookbeat Q3 results in and showing the usual eye-popping percentage increases, it’s no surprise Nextory’s Q3 results have followed the same pattern.

But percentages alone don’t tell us much. Nextory’s 76% revenue boost means what, exactly? If Nextory was pulling in $10,000 before then it’s $17,600 now. If it was $500,000 before, then it’s $880,000 now. If it was $1 million before it’s $1.76 million now. If it was $10 million before then it’s $17.6 million now. Etc.

BookBeat told us Q3 revenue was up 68% and on target to clear $57 million by year’s end. It told us it expects to have 400,000 subscribers by end 2020.

Sweden’s BookBeat sees 69% revenue boost. On target to reach $57 million by end 2020 with 400,000 subscribers
Sweden’s Storytel hits 1.3 million subscribers Q3. YOY revenue up 23%. Non-Nordic subscribers up 65% YOY. Non-Nordic revenue up 63%

Storytel told us it hit 1.33 million subscribers in Q3 and of course shared its revenue numbers.

Nextory? Well, it’s certainly an impressive percentages game. Quarter after quarter Nextory delivers jaw-dropping percentage gains and there’s little doubt things are going very well for Shadi Bitar and the Nextory team.

Q2 2020:

Sweden’s Nextory grows revenue 95% in Q2. 58% new user growth in June

Q1 2020:

Sweden’s Nextory sees 94% revenue and 110% subscriber growth in Q1

But time and again we are left in the dark about the numbers that really matter.

The Q3 press release talks about,

another strong quarter. The company’s revenues have so far increased by 76 percent this year compared to the same nine months last year. Nextory thus continues its rapid growth and has also broken records in the number of new subscribers in one month.

Nextory’s customer base has continued to grow sharply during the third quarter of the year and growth has been strong both in Sweden and in the company’s foreign markets. In July, the company also broke a new record in new subscribers during one and the same month. The number of new customers increased by as much as 81 percent during July, August and September compared with the same quarter last year.

Yeah, but what about the numbers?

Shadi Bitar says,

We leave a fantastic summer behind us. More people than ever before have started reading and listening to books in our app. Now we have seen that more and more older people have started subscribing to Nextory, which is very gratifying to see. At the same time, children and young people continue to discover the world of books with the help of mobile phones.

Yeah, but Shadi, tell us something we don’t know.

In fact, Bitar does just that:

One of the categories that has increased a lot in popularity with us is namely interactive children’s books, where you can read and listen at the same time.

See, it wasn’t that hard. And a very useful nugget of real information amid the barrage of percentage fluff. Unless I’ve missed something this is the first time a streaming platform has reported such a development.

But… That was it. On that note about interactive books the press release ended.

Back in March, as reported here at TNPS, Nextory picked up $6 million in new funding –

Sweden’s Nextory collects $6 million in new funding for European expansion amid “fantastic growth” in audiobook and ebook subscription

so clearly the numbers it is showing investors are hitting the mark.

But in terms of judging just how well Nextory is really doing compared with rivals BookBeat and Storytel… For now at least that remains anyone’s guess.