Spotify thinks it’ll have 208m users by the end of 2018

Just days ahead of its IPO, Swedish music streaming company Spotify has published its first ever guidance document for prospective investors and anyone who just wants to understand the company’s self-image.

The IPO, or initial public offering, will be the first time Spotify’s shares will be available for public purchase. And if you need a specific date, pen that particular milestone for 3 April 2018.

For you number lovers out there however, here’s how many users the company believes will join its service this year.

Spotify forecasts modest user growth for the first three months of 2018’s financial year (Q1 2018). It believes that between nine and 11-million users will join the service; an overall growth rate of between 28-31% over 2017.

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As for premium users, it suggests between two to five-million users will pay for the service in Q1 2018, adding and a further 20-million by the end of the year. At present, just 71-million are premium customers. The premium tier removes audio and visual ads, and allows users to skip songs within playlists.

Notably, this estimate also comes after the service expanded operations into South Africa, Israel, Romania and Vietnam earlier this month.

At the end of 2018, it believes more than 200-million users — 208-million to be exact — could be using the service at least once a month, up by 30% over the previous year. At present, around 159-million people use the service on a monthly basis.

In terms of revenue growth, the firm forecasts an increase of 22% in the first quarter of 2018, and as high as 30% at the end of the financial year. But these numbers may be balanced by slimmer margins and overall operating losses as the service expands.

The company does note that these estimates are “subject to substantial uncertainty”, and considering that Spotify could be 2018’s big tech IPO — no disrespect to messaging service Telegram — these numbers could bounce around noticeably come the end of 2018.

Feature image: Spotify