Elon Musk announced today that X (formerly Twitter) is gearing up to unveil two new premium subscription tiers, confirming earlier reports and code discoveries.
The platform’s owner disclosed that one of these tiers will be priced below the existing $8 per month plan but will not eliminate advertisements. The other tier will come at a higher cost and will offer an ad-free experience. The current premium plan, which is known for displaying “half ads” to its subscribers, will see no price adjustment, and Musk did not specify the pricing details for the upcoming tiers.
In a recent development, earlier this month, @aaronp613 unearthed references to three distinct premium tiers within X’s code. Concurrently, Bloomberg reported that the company is experimenting with multiple paid subscription models to boost its revenue.
Interestingly, Meta is also contemplating the introduction of an ad-free tier in response to a European Union Court ruling, which stipulates that users must have the option of an ad-free subscription if they decline consent for their data processing. TikTok has also confirmed that it is in the testing phase for an ad-free tier, though it remains unclear whether X’s move is directly tied to the EU Court ruling.
Elon Musk and his team are exploring various avenues to enhance X’s revenue. Just this week, the company initiated trials for a $1 per year plan targeted at new users in New Zealand and the Philippines, offering basic functionalities such as posting, liking, and reposting. The objective behind this move is to reduce the prevalence of bots on the platform and not primarily for profit generation.
Furthermore, Reuters reported earlier this month that ad revenue has been consistently declining since Musk’s acquisition of the platform. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Musk is taking measures to bolster subscription-based revenue.
As the company seeks to attract advertisers with former NBCU executive Linda Yaccarino as its CEO, it is actively working on presenting appealing metrics. Earlier this month, Yaccarino revealed that X boasts approximately 245 million daily active users and sees 500 million daily posts.
