Elon Musk is betting that revenue from subscriptions could kickstart Twitter’s revenue issues but data suggests that many users may be unwilling to pay to use the platform.
Elon Musk has said he wants 50% of Twitter’s total revenue, according to a message from a VP on an internal company Slack message shared on Twitter by platformer Casey Newton.
Elon Musk thought that membership objectives could help with conversational and credit card payment bots, although a survey by The Harris Poll, a global market research and consulting firm, found that half of US Twitter users said that if they could If they come together, they will leave the stage.
The firm polled 2,063 US adults, of whom 1,212 were Twitter users, from October 20 to October 28, the week Elon Musk took over the company. Pinar Yildirim, professor of marketing and economics at The Wharton School, told Insider that Twitter is looking to introduce a subscription model.
Yildirim said that many users were waiting to see whether Twitter becomes subscription-based. Concerns about membership changes have caused some users to switch to other platforms, potentially due to high status like some celebrities or ordinary users, he said.
If in the end the revenue model becomes such that Twitter costs everyone a price, he said it would clearly result in a movement of users who may find it too expensive to be on Twitter. Some public figures have said they will leave the platform if Twitter starts charging for verification.
Bestselling author Stephen King tweeted $20 a month to keep my blue checks? Fuck them they should pay me. If it gets set up then I’m gone like Enron. The now-suspended Twitter Blue membership had about 140,000 paying subscribers as of November 15, according to data published by The New York Times.
According to social media expert Matt Navara, if Musk wants to generate enough revenue to pay off Twitter’s $1 billion in debt, he will need to add about 10 million more paying subscribers.