X Premium Take-Up Growth Trends Revealed by Data

Despite ongoing skepticism regarding X’s strategy to generate substantial revenue through paid app subscriptions, recent trends suggest that the X Premium initiative is gradually gaining traction, leading to an increase in the number of subscribers.

At least one of their promotional efforts appears to be yielding positive results.

In the days leading up to Christmas, coinciding with the Black Friday sales, X introduced a limited-time 40% discount on X Premium subscriptions, accompanied by full-screen, inescapable advertisements within the app.

While the aggressive promotion may have been inconvenient for some users, app analytics provider AppFigures reported a notable increase in subscriptions for X Premium as a result.

According to the latest data from AppFigures:

“We’ve monitored X’s revenue every month since the introduction of Twitter Blue, but this month marks the highest increase yet. AppFigures estimates that X’s net revenue for November reached $16.5 million. This figure reflects what Elon retains after compensating Apple and Google. It represents the largest revenue month for the platform, showing a 27% increase compared to October, which was previously the highest month.”

Significant promotional events, in addition to the newly introduced option to gift X Premium to friends, contributed to a surge in subscriptions in November. AppFigures also notes that this elevated subscription rate has persisted beyond the promotional period.

The growth in subscriptions can also be partially attributed to the increased visibility of Elon Musk in the lead-up to the U.S. elections, and these trends may be further connected to Trump’s election victory. With a reported $16.5 million in revenue for a single month, averaging around $11 per subscription, it indicates a significant increase in the number of paying users for X.

For perspective, in October, AppFigures indicated that X generated approximately $14.7 million monthly from in-app purchases via mobile devices. TechCrunch’s analysis suggested this corresponds to around 1.4 million users subscribed to X Premium, which constitutes less than 1% of X’s total user base.

An increase of $1.8 million in Premium revenue might equate to an additional 200,000 new users signing up. This implies that while X’s paying user base remains modest in relation to the overall user count, it is on the rise, and the platform could potentially have around 2 million paying subscribers, marking a notable achievement for the application.

X is clearly making concerted efforts to enhance these figures, prominently featuring promotions for its Grok AI chatbot wherever possible, along with refreshing icons associated with the tool.

Initially, Grok was exclusively available to paying subscribers, but it has since been opened up to all users in a limited capacity. Nevertheless, X is still optimistic that offering full access to Grok’s features will entice more individuals to subscribe to X Premium.

Furthermore, Elon Musk is now advocating for users to restrict their post replies to “verified users only,” a practice he has adopted himself, indicating that X is continuously seeking to enhance its revenue through the X Premium subscription model.

However, this offering remains somewhat niche and has limited appeal, particularly among the broader X user community.

From the outset, Elon Musk’s strategy to increase the number of users willing to pay for the app has been flawed, largely due to the perceived value placed on various features by both X and Musk himself.

The primary attraction of X Premium during Musk’s initial takeover of the platform, which was still referred to as “Twitter Blue,” was the verification checkmarks. Musk claimed that selling these coveted checkmarks would dismantle the “lords and peasants system” established by the previous administration.

This plan quickly backfired when users began purchasing checkmarks and impersonating verified accounts belonging to celebrities and professionals, highlighting a significant flaw in Musk’s strategy.

Consequently, Musk and his team had to retract the option to buy checkmarks, only to reintroduce it a month later, with blue checkmarks still serving as a primary focus of the offering.

However, the value of checkmarks diminished once they became accessible to anyone willing to pay for them, undermining the original appeal of exclusivity. Additionally, features like reply boosts are only available to users who actively post within the app, which represents only a fraction of the total X user base. This indicates that Musk and his team may have misjudged the potential value of X Premium, undermining their plans to replace ad revenue with direct subscription payments.

In Musk’s original vision for Twitter/X, he projected that user subscriptions would account for approximately 50% of the app’s overall revenue, with aspirations that by the end of 2025, around 69 million users would subscribe to X Premium.

While this goal remains theoretically attainable, with only 2 million current subscribers, there’s substantial progress still needed. Meanwhile, X’s ad revenue is projected to surpass $2 billion for the year, a stark contrast to the estimated $200 million generated from monthly subscription fees.

Thus, while the uptake of X Premium is witnessing some growth, it remains sluggish, and it’s doubtful that Grok will serve as a major incentive to attract new subscribers, contrary to X’s expectations.

Nevertheless, X does offer valuable features within its subscription package.

The enhanced analytics tools provide significant benefits for social media managers, while access to the updated version of TweetDeck, now branded as “X Pro,” represents another valuable addition.

However, the overall value of X has diminished for brands and influencers, making these features less appealing in the grand scheme.

Perhaps future updates to Grok will enhance its value proposition, or X may unveil additional strategies to boost Premium subscriptions. However, for the majority of the app’s users, it remains a secondary consideration.

Unless X enhances its overall value, the prospects for X Premium becoming a more significant component of its revenue remain uncertain.