X is testing three tiers of premium subscription service
Elon Musk's social media platform X is experimenting with a fresh three-tiered subscription model, as confirmed by CEO Linda Yaccarino in a meeting with debt holders. The existing X Premium or Twitter Blue subscription, which costs $8 per month, will likely be split into Basic, Standard, and Plus categories. This change aims to generate more income from users who might have been reluctant to pay the full premium subscription fee.
Ad-based subscription tiers
According to a Bloomberg report, the three subscription levels would allow the company to charge customers different amounts depending on how many ads are shown. Researcher @Aaronp613 revealed that the X Premium Basic plan will show full ads, while the X Premium Standard option will present half the number of ads. The X Premium Plus tier will completely be ad-free.
Break-up of the three-tiered subscription model
Monthly fee for all users
In addition to the new subscription plans, Musk has further plans in the pipeline for charging X users. In a more recent development, Musk indicated during a discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that X would introduce a nominal monthly fee for all users as a solution to combat the issue of bots. It is anticipated that the fee may deter bot creators from operating multiple fake accounts, thereby enhancing the overall user experience and platform integrity.
X Premium pricing in India
In India, the X Premium subscription is priced at Rs. 900 per month for both Android and iOS devices and Rs. 650 per month for web access. Users can also choose an annual subscription costing Rs. 6,800 on the web or Rs. 9,400 per year on iOS and Android devices. It's unclear how the new three-tiered subscription plans will impact pricing in India and other markets.
Musk has to repay X's growing debt
Musk's $44 billion takeover of Twitter left the San Francisco-based company with a debt of $13 billion. His unpredictable decision-making and loose content safety policies have unsettled certain advertisers. Before Musk's acquisition and the rebranding to X, Twitter was generating around $5 billion in annual revenue, with nearly 90% of it coming from advertising. Now, X needs to regain that revenue while facing an estimated annual interest payment of about $1.2 billion on its debt, as previously reported by Bloomberg.
Advertisers returning, revenue growing: CEO
Yaccarino had previously stated that revenue is growing in high single digits quarter-over-quarter across advertising, data licensing, and subscriptions. About 90% of the company's top 100 advertisers have returned, up from 75% in June, as per Yaccarino. However, ad spending has not yet reached historical levels, and companies are cautiously increasing their budgets. The new subscription plans may help boost revenue and draw more advertisers to the platform.
