X's (aka. Twitter's) Mobile Revenue Grew 829% Since Elon's Takeover

Ariel Ariel
Nov. 3

This is a single insight from This Week in Apps - Let's Check In!. Check out the full article for more insights.


October is behind us, which means it's time to check in on X's (aka. Twitter's) mobile revenue, a monthly series I started when Twitter started monetizing its users back in 2021. As the first social platform to do that, it was interesting to see how it'll grow, and now that Elon's at the helm, it's interesting to see how it's changing.

Unlike September, October was a positive month for Twitter. But...

X/Twitter mobile revenue

According to our estimates, X earned $5.4M of net revenue in October from the App Store and Google Play. Compared to last October, before Elon took over, that's an increase of 829%! And that's all net, which means what X gets to keep after Apple and Google take their fees.

If you've been following the series, that's an increase over September's revenue, which was a bunch lower than August. So that's good!

But while October did beat September, it didn't beat August, and I find that potential problematic.

It's interesting because it could mean that subscriptions aren't as popular as many have expected that'd become.

See, before the summer, the only way to earn money on X was from subscriptions. That changed when X started paying creators by the number of impressions their posts got.

If those payments outweigh the revenue from subscriptions, there's less incentive to put effort into subscriber-only content and more incentive to go viral.

It's not necessarily bad for X, but it is interesting.

At the end of October, X introduced two new price tiers. One that's slightly cheaper (Basic) and offers functionality already offered in X Premium but not the blue check, and another that's slightly more expensive (Premium+) that gets rid of all ads.

I expect to see revenue rise thanks to Premium+ in November.

App Intelligence for Everyone!

The insights in this report come right out of our App Intelligence platform, which offers access to download and revenue estimates, installed SDKs, and more! Learn more about the tools or schedule a demo with our team to get started.

Are you a Journalist? You can get access to our app and market intelligence for free through the Appfigures for Journalists program. Contact us for more details.

All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.

Tagged: #social-media

Related Resources

The #1 App in the US Hasn't Been Updated in 7 Years!
Insights
The #1 App in the US Hasn't Been Updated in 7 Years!

The most downloaded app in the US App Store right now is a coloring book that hasn't been updated in 7 years. And it loo...

Wrapped - Was the Most Downloaded App in the US Just a Scam?
Insights
Wrapped - Was the Most Downloaded App in the US Just a Scam?

An app catapulted to the top of the App Store last week and then disappeared abruptly. Fast risers aren't new, but abrup...