Back in November, when Chief Twit Elon Musk outlined his plans for the new Twitter Blue package, including a blue checkmark. Musk also promised that subscribers would eventually see half the ads in the app. Many have since speculated that that could be problematic, given how the amount of money that Twitter makes from ads almost outstrips the potential revenue that it could bring in through Twitter Blue payments. It may not be a viable choice, at least business-wise.
More Cuts
However, all that might have changed. After months of development, Twitter recently showcased this new Twitter Blue overview page. It reads:
“Half ads: See approximately 50% fewer ads in the For You and Following timelines. As you scroll, you will see approximately twice as many organic or non-promoted Tweets placed in between promoted Tweets or ads. There may be times when there are more or fewer non-promoted Tweets between promoted Tweets. The half ads feature does not apply to promoted content elsewhere on Twitter, including but not limited to ads on profiles, ads in Tweet replies, promoted events in Explore, promoted trends, and promoted accounts to follow.”
It’s not technically ad frequency being cut in half, seeing as how it all depends on how you use the app. Twitter seems to want to reduce overall ad exposure in main timelines, which is the platform’s key UI. Blue subscribers will see the same amount of ads in every other element. It’s quite possible that they’ll still see similar amounts of promoted Tweets and other ad initiatives, so this new ‘revamp’ might not be as impactful as it would be to regular (non-Blue) users.
It’s something, at the very least. After just 4 months of development, it could be that this is simply the beginning and that Twitter will continue to revise and update the offer to make sure that Blue subscribers do only see half the amount of ads. Platformer did report back in December that Twitter currently generates around $12 per US user from ad exposure in the app. Under the 50% ad reduction plan, that would reduce Twitter Blue subscribers to $6 per user, meaning that the revenue impact from paying users comes down from $8 clear to only $2 each, significantly reducing Twitter Blue’s value.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the same factors would apply to other regions where Twitter brings in significantly less revenue per user. At least in that respect, it could still be a viable pathway. On top of this, it’s no secret that overall Twitter Blue take-up hasn’t been great. Musk’s so-called ‘Breadwinner’ option has, thus far, around 500,000 paying subscribers, which is about 0.2% of its total user base. This basically means that no matter what else Twitter does to make Twitter Blue more appealing, if take-up doesn’t improve at all, then it’ll be all for nothing.
The Wrap
Note that Musk hopes to generate 50% of Twitter’s revenue from subscriptions to reduce the company’s reliance on ad intake. That would require around 24 million users to sign-up for the program, while Musk’s expanded plan is that Twitter Blude adoption will become so widespread that it’ll also help to eliminate bots in the app.
That would be amazing, provided Twitter can pull it off. Right now, it’s a long, long way from that. Perhaps by continuing to incentivize Twitter Blue take-up, Twitter can boost those numbers over time. However, even if it increased Blue takeup by 100%, that would still equate to only 0.4% of Twitter’s user base. While it’s something, it’s still unlikely to become a significant element, especially if you consider how Musk himself said that the vast majority of users don’t even Tweet. Guess we’ll all have to see if there would be changes at all come April 15th.
Please note:
This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin.
Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
