Exploring Elon Musk’s Possibility of Twitter Sharing Revenue

The next stage of the creator monetization push of Twitter is coming. Although, there are some crucial considerations to factor into the latest revenue share element outlined by the new Twitter chief, Elon Musk.

As already stated by Musk, Twitter will start sharing revenue with creators for ads shown in their tweet replies. It will add another pathway for people to profit from their Twitter presence. Although, the actual detail, in this case, is crucial.

Musk notes that only Twitter Blue subscribers or those with the gifted verification will be eligible for the program. It is in line with the broader verification strategy of Twitter.

Although the actual ‘verification’ elements remain questionable, you only need a phone number and money. That’s it.

But more importantly, only ads served within the replies of verified users will count towards this brand-new revenue pool to be shared with creators.

You might think Twitter has already halved ad exposure for Twitter Blue subscribers, right?

Yes, but not in a way that will affect this offering.

A key concern with the execution of Twitter Blue has been Musk’s commitment to halving ad exposure for paying subscribers.

It could have a big impact on the bottom line of Twitter. The US’s average revenue per Twitter user is or was just $12 per quarter.

Now, most of this income is the result of the ad exposure. On paper, it would mean that, by cutting ad exposure by half, Twitter Blue subscribers would end up bringing in $6 per user/quarter instead of getting ad exposure alone.

Twitter has watered this aspect down since the original announcement of Musk.

In April, Twitter announced that Blue subscribers would now see ’50% fewer ads in the ‘For You’ and Following timelines’, but the same amount in all other elements.

As a result, it has reduced Twitter’s exposure to revenue loss, while it also evidently aligns with this new revenue share element.

Essentially, the Twitter Blue ad reduction does not relate to this update. Hence, the amount of ads shown in this reply remains unchanged. But Twitter did some re-jigging to separate these elements.

The next part is potential ad exposure and what sort of money Twitter creators can expect to see from this new initiative. And it is likely not very much.

Based on estimates like reduced ad exposure plus monthly payments, Twitter is bringing in around $30 per Twitter Blue user per quarter.

Twitter Blue currently has around 700,000 subscribers. Based on these figures, Twitter Blue would bring in around $21m per quarter for Twitter.

Most ad exposure comes in the main feed, not the replies section. But at the same time, Twitter Blue subscribers are more active in the app than the average person.

It would up their value in this sense. So breaking it down, you can see, maybe, where Elon’s $5m block payment comes from as a fraction of the overall intake from Twitter Blue users.

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