With “X Originals” all over the place, X has big plans for video. Let’s face it, though. Even with the new look, this platform, which was formerly Twitter, is still a long way from competing with YouTube or TikTok in the video market. Even with a glossy rebranding, the gaps remain visible because the actual execution still lags so far behind the competition, despite the obvious intent of luring high-profile talent and dropping episodic content across popular categories.
This goes beyond simply introducing new features. On a platform that has historically been characterized by text and real-time communication, this is about radically changing user behavior. The pieces aren’t quite fitting together yet, and it’s a huge challenge.
Unique Content, But Not Very Innovative
With 17 series and more than 300 episodes, X has produced a respectable amount of content, reaching audiences in the US, Japan, and the Middle East and North Africa. They have reached out to a variety of communities that cover pop culture, politics, business, and sports. From Khloe Kardashian to Don Lemon, the talent roster features some extremely well-known names. The content includes everything from WWE action to documentaries about celebrities like Trump and the Boston Celtics. On paper, it sounds impressive.
The tactic isn’t particularly fresh, though. On other platforms, the majority of these well-known individuals already have sizable fan bases. To be honest, a lot of this “exclusive” content does not feel like truly must-see, exclusive productions that demand devoted viewership on X, but rather like overflow content that either didn’t quite fit or already found a home elsewhere. There are already rumors that some shows have been quietly removed from the platform or shelved. The audience needs a strong incentive to choose X as their primary viewing destination in order for a content push to be considered truly “original,” and the majority of these offerings lack that incentive. Being indispensable on X is more important than simply being accessible on X.
Integration’s Attraction: Still Just a Theory
The intriguing combination of in-the-moment conversation and content consumption is what theoretically distinguishes X. Imagine watching a show and then immediately launching into a live discussion with other viewers directly beneath the video. Few platforms can actually claim to have this feature, but it’s turning out to be insufficient.
This concept itself is not new; it is a holdover from Twitter’s history. This exact idea has already been tested in earlier management eras. Do you remember when Twitter streamed NBA, MLB, and NFL games directly within the app? The ultimate goal was to become the one-stop shop for live events and passionate fan discussion. However, the outcomes continuously failed to live up to the expectations. It was discovered that users favored using X as a second screen, tweeting and responding while watching the games on a TV or sports app.
There hasn’t been any change in this basic user behavior. Instead of being a native, integrated experience, video consumption on X obstinately continues to be an optional activity—an afterthought, even. Users fall back on the rapid-fire text updates that are still ingrained in the platform’s DNA. Although the concept of “integration” is still intriguing, in practice, it isn’t generating the engagement required to compete in the video market.
A Limited Slate is Always Less Attractive
There are currently a variety of talk shows, documentaries, and specialized sports coverage on the “X Originals” roster. A brief overview of what has been marketed as “premium” content is provided here:
Interviews and Talk Shows: Including celebrities like Tulsi Gabbard, Tucker Carlson, Anthony Pompliano, Don Lemon, and Khloe Kardashian. A lack of constant, continuous commitment is evident from the fact that some of these are already inactive or have been deleted.
Sports & Competition: WWE Speed, The Big 3, Verzuz, NHL’s Four Nations, and the football documentary series “The Offseason.” These appeal to niche fan bases.
Business & Politics: Including politically oriented content such as “Going Public,” “The Art of the Surge,” and others.
Although these products may attract attention within highly specialized user communities—imagine fervent fan clubs or political echo chambers. Some may critically lack the widespread appeal and mainstream momentum required to establish X as a legitimate entertainment platform. Simply put, other well-known platforms have a lot more content, a lot more variety, and perhaps most importantly, much better tools for finding content. You might not even be aware that these shows exist on X unless you’re specifically looking for them.
It’s Fundamental Design, Not Just Quantity, That’s the Issue
X faces a stark contradiction for a platform that now brazenly proclaims itself to be “video first”: it doesn’t actually open to a video feed. Instead of being an essential component of the experience, video feels like a secondary layer that users must actively search for or intentionally tap into. Powerhouses like YouTube and TikTok, on the other hand, are built intuitively around video, which is the absolute default. Their user interfaces immerse you in the video right away.
Even photo-focused platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have completely redesigned their user interfaces to prioritize and support vertical video and reels. On the other hand, X hasn’t made any comparable fundamental changes to its core user experience. New slogans and a video tab alone won’t be sufficient to radically change user behavior, which is so ingrained in text-based, fast-paced conversation. The platform’s video goals are thwarted by its intrinsic architecture.
View Success Metrics Can Be Deceptive
Even though X may boast about the increasing number of video views, it’s crucial to take a closer look and comprehend how those figures are calculated. The aggressive auto-play feature in feeds and the way the platform now counts video plays (even quick glances!) are largely responsible for this purported “growth.” Genuine engagement and audience retention are not always correlated with increased consumption. Making a strong argument that X is effectively developing a devoted, devoted video audience is extremely challenging without much more precise data on crucial metrics like completion rates, regular click-throughs to external links, or verifiable follower growth that is directly related to video content. The number of views is not a good indicator of actual impact.
Monetization: There are still many unanswered questions
The motivation for content producers to publish only or even mostly on X is still incredibly ambiguous. For example, YouTube provides clear ad revenue-sharing, highly detailed analytics, and strong, transparent monetization models. TikTok facilitates profitable brand deals, offers sizable creator funds, and incorporates commerce features right into the platform. However, X is obstinately evasive about the precise monetization models that are accessible for its “Originals” or how creators actually profit beyond exposure.
Because of this obvious lack of transparency and the platform’s generally lower reach in terms of dedicated video consumption, X is much more difficult to sell to top-tier content creators who are actively trying to establish and expand a long-term business. They require more than speculative claims of reach; they require clear routes to revenue.
What Will Happen to X’s Video Play Next?
With a fiercely competitive video market, X’s future might rely more on its leadership than on its present feature set. However, “X Originals” appears destined to remain a side project, a nice-to-have footnote, rather than a serious, game-changing contender in the fierce streaming wars unless there is a truly significant overhaul in both the platform’s basic design and its overarching strategic approach to video.
