1.2 million users in 10 years – BookBeat turns double-digits

On November 30, 2015, the BookBeat app became available in the App Store and on Google Play, allowing the first Swedish users to start listening to audiobooks. Ten years later, BookBeat operates in ten countries and is approaching 1.2 million users who, over the past decade, have read and listened to 1.3 billion hours of audiobooks.

“We were given the green light by Bonnier Books to start building BookBeat in March 2015, with a planned beta launch already in November that same year. At that time, the digital book market - and audiobooks in particular - had just begun to emerge as an increasingly important source of revenue for Swedish publishers, while development in the rest of the Nordic region and Europe had barely started. The ten years that followed have been incredibly exciting and in many ways exceeded even our most ambitious plans. I remember early estimates pointing to a long-term total potential of around 400,000 paying users in Sweden. Now, in 2025, we assess that the market has already surpassed 1 million people who every month spend both time and money on books through a streaming service - 150 percent more than we dared dream of in 2015,” says Niclas Sandin.

Compared to 2015, books today compete to a much greater extent for people’s time with, for example, social media, podcasts, and TV streaming. Over the decade, audiobooks have been the fastest-growing book format and have become an essential part of the book market.

“Since the launch, across all markets where we have introduced the service during the first ten years, we will have paid out around EUR 400 million to publishers and authors,” says Niclas Sandin.

“Even though we are proud of how far we have come in the first ten years, we are still only at the beginning of our journey. It will be incredibly exciting to see how the coming years unfold, what impact we can have on the market, and how much we can contribute to continued growth,” says Niclas Sandin.

Key milestones for BookBeat

2015: BookBeat becomes available in beta in the App Store and gains its first Swedish users

2016: Finland is launched as the first market outside Sweden and quickly becomes the market leader. By the end of the year, BookBeat has a total of 25,000 users and 10 employees.

2017: The app is translated into German and German books are added to the service; the broader launch in Germany begins a little later.

2018: BookBeat surpasses SEK 100 million in ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue), launches family accounts, and passes 100,000 users.

2019: An English version of the BookBeat app is made available in 24 European markets, and the service surpasses 200,000 users.

2020: BookBeat launches in Denmark and Poland with local languages and local catalogues, and passes 400,000 users. The pandemic leads to a significant increase in audiobook listening in all markets.

2021: The service is launched in Austria, Switzerland, and Norway. The number of users surpasses 500,000. BookBeat reaches 100 employees.

2022: BookBeat launches in the Netherlands.

2023: The service surpasses SEK 1 billion in ARR.

2024: The service surpasses 1 million users, and since launch more than 1 billion hours have been consumed in BookBeat. The company becomes profitable for the first time on a full-year basis.

2025: BookBeat celebrates its 10-year anniversary! In total, BookBeat is approaching 1.2 million users across ten core markets. The number of employees is around 160, working in BookBeat offices in Stockholm, Helsinki, Berlin, Oslo, Warsaw, and Karlstad.