As ever with Nextory press releases, real numbers are hard to come by, and without a base line the claims of 94% and 110% growth don’t tell us much other than as Nextory itself asserts, the company is the fastest growing subscription service in the Nordics.
That’s an enviable claim to fame, of course, but it leaves us none the wiser as to how well Nextory is actually doing.
Here’s the thing. If Nextory had 100 subscribers in Q1 2019 and 210 in Q1 2020 that would be 110% growth.
If Nextory has 1,000,000 subscribers in Q1 2019 it would be 2,200,000 subscribers in 2020 with the same 110% rise.
Safe to say Nextory has a lot more than the first example and a lot less than the second but beyond that the percentages, without context, tell us little.
Likewise for revenue. Did Nextory go from $100 to $210 dollars or from $1 million to $2.2 million or any of myriad other possible combinations somewhere between?
So while we can and should be excited by Nextory’s continuing growth, and kudos to Shadi Bitar, and while there’s no reason to doubt Nextory’s claim to be the second largest subscription service in Sweden after Storytel (Bookbeat has not disputed this), the latest press release, like so many before, doesn’t really tell us much at all.
Nextory CEO Shadi Bitar said in the press release:
The whole world is in crisis and it is something that affects us all in one way or another. In the current times, the need for entertainment and relaxation therefore seems to be more important than ever. Hopefully, books can bring some joy and comfort right now.
But as per TNPS coverage of the Storytel Q1 report –
the coronavirus bounce for digital entertainment services won’t last forever, and we may see a reversal of fortunes down the road as the post-pandemic economic downturn hits consumers.
