Elon Musk’s X social media service will soon launch two new monthly subscription tiers, a $16 X Premium+ plan with no ads, and a budget-priced $3 option with “most” of the same features “but no reduction in ads.” Musk had for some months been discussing new paid subscription options as part of an effort to fight spam and bots on the platform. In November, the company began offering an $8 monthly X Premium subscription (formerly Twitter Blue) that includes blue check verification and the promise of some boosted post exposure. Musk is also envisioning a digital wallet with financial services, business applications to compete with LinkedIn, and a news wire service.

Premium+ “includes a host of other features such as boosted visibility, the ability to edit posts and post longer videos” and more, writes The Wall Street Journal, which explains the $3 option will be available to “users who sign up via web browser.”

As part of its initiative to weed out all but actual human users on X, Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino reportedly rolled out a $1 annual subscription test in New Zealand and the Philippines that lets users “post and interact with other posts.” Those who opt out will be limited to “read only.”

“While advertising makes up most of the company’s revenue, Musk has been seeking to grow subscriptions,” WSJ says, reporting that “he told employees shortly after taking over a year ago that the company needed to get roughly half of its revenue to come from subscriptions.”

In a statistics-laden piece, WSJ says U.S. ad spending by major agencies on X has “dropped 54 percent” from September 2022-August 2023. WSJ also quotes Yaccarino “saying last month that 90 percent of the top 100 advertisers from last year are back,” though seemingly at reduced levels.

Variety reports that as of September 2023, “monthly active users for X/Twitter had dropped 15 percent worldwide (and 18 percent in the U.S.) year-over-year, according to web analytics provider Similarweb.”

The New York Times writes that even as celebrities and general users “abandon” the platform, “in the same way that many households stuck with cable for game broadcasts, sports fans and sports reporters still find X indispensable.”

Meanwhile, The Verge updates Musk’s plan to make X an “everything app” that includes a digital wallet with financial services set to go live by the end of 2024. “‘When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life,’ Musk said” at an all-hands meeting commemorating one year under his ownership, according to The Verge, which goes on to quote him saying on leaked audio “I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.”

Bloomberg reports from the same meeting that Musk and Yaccarino “see YouTube and LinkedIn as future competitors while pursuing new business lines in video and hiring,” and say the duo “also referenced ambitions to create a news wire service called XWire, which would rival Cision’s PR Newswire.”

Related:
X Says It Is Worth $19 Billion, Down From $44 Billion Last Year, The New York Times, 10/30/23
Preserving Black Twitter’s Legacy and Future (Video), The Wall Street Journal, 10/27/23
Musk Says Starlink Will Provide Gaza Connectivity for Aid Groups, Reuters, 10/28/23
Elon Musk’s Outlook on Our Future Turns Dour, The Wall Street Journal, 10/28/23