Whereas it nonetheless looks like X’s push to make individuals pay to make use of the app is rarely really going evolve into a major income stream for the corporate, there are some indicators that its X Premium push is slowly driving extra subscriptions.
Properly, in any case, certainly one of its initiatives has had some success.
Within the lead-up to Christmas, coinciding with Black Friday, X launched a 40% low cost provide for X Premium, which included full-screen, unavoidable promotions within the app.
Which was annoying, however in line with knowledge from app analytics supplier AppFigures, it did result in a major uptick in X Premium subscriptions.

As per AppFigures:
“We have checked in on X’s income each month since Twitter Blue got here out however this test in is by far the most important leap. Appfigures estimates put X’s internet income in November at $16.5M. That is what Elon will get to maintain after giving Apple and Google their share. That is the most important month of income for the platform and 27% larger than October, which was its largest month prior.”
So main reductions, in addition to the addition of an choice to present X Premium to others, noticed X enhance its subscriber rely in November, whereas AppFigures additional notes that it is remained larger than common ever since.
A part of that soar additionally got here in October, which may be attributed to Elon’s larger profile within the lead-up to the U.S. election. And these features are seemingly additionally tied to Trump’s election victory, and at $16.5 million in a single month, at a median worth of $11 or so per subscription, that would point out a notable shift in numbers for X’s paying person aspect.
For context, again in October, AppFigures reported that X was bringing in round $14.7 million per thirty days through in-app purchases on cell units. Evaluation performed by TechCrunch means that this seemingly equates to round 1.4 million customers paying for X Premium, which is lower than 1% of X’s complete person base.
An extra $1.8 million of Premium consumption might equate to a different 200k customers signing up. Which might imply that whereas X’s paid person cohort remains to be comparatively low, by way of total person proportion, it’s rising, and the platform might now be as much as round 2 million paying customers, which might be a major milestone for the app.
And X is certainly doing all it may well to juice these numbers, with promotions for Grok showing wherever it may well jam them in, together with up to date icons for its AI chatbot.

Grok was initially solely out there to paying customers, however is now out there to all X customers in restricted type, although X remains to be hoping that it’ll appeal to extra Premium subscribers by engaging them with entry to Grok’s full function set.
Add to this the truth that X proprietor Elon Musk is now encouraging customers to change their submit replies to “verified customers solely”, which he himself has now carried out, and it’s clear that X remains to be hoping to spice up its income consumption through its X Premium providing.
Although it nonetheless stays a reasonably area of interest, pretty restricted attraction providing, particularly for almost all of X customers.
From the beginning, Elon Musk’s plan to get extra individuals paying to make use of the app has been flawed due to the worth that X, and Musk himself, has positioned on parts of the app.
The large lure of X Premium when Musk initially took over on the app, (when it was nonetheless often known as “Twitter Blue”) was verification ticks, with Musk claiming that by promoting the platform’s much-lauded checkmarks, that may get rid of the “lords and peasants system” that had been enacted by previous Twitter administration.
Which it didn’t, and instantly, Musk was proven the error on this strategy, when customers began shopping for checkmarks and impersonating skilled and celeb accounts.
That compelled Musk and Co. to tug the choice, earlier than re-launching it a month or so later, with blue ticks nonetheless the most important aspect of focus for the providing.
However checkmarks have been solely worthwhile as a result of they have been elusive, and the truth that anybody can now purchase one undermines the very worth you’re attempting to pitch. Add to this the truth that many parts, like reply enhance, solely apply to individuals who submit within the app, which is solely a fraction of X customers, and it was fairly clear that Elon and his group had misinterpret the room on the potential worth of X Premium, and that his plans to supplant the necessity for advertiser {dollars} through direct subscriptions was by no means going to work as he’d hoped.
In Elon’s unique marketing strategy for Twitter/X, following his takeover of the app, he famous that person subscriptions would shortly make up round 50% of the app’s total income consumption, and that by the tip of this yr (2025), some 69 million individuals could be paying for X Premium.
That’s nonetheless attainable, I assume, however at 2 million subscribers now, they’ve bought a good bit of labor to do, whereas X’s advert income consumption remains to be estimated to exceed $2 billion for the complete yr, a far cry from the lower than $200 million that it’s more likely to make from month-to-month subscription funds.
So whereas X Premium take-up is rising, it’s nonetheless transferring slowly, and I don’t see Grok being a significant lure to get extra individuals on board, not less than not as a lot as X itself appears to suppose it’s.
But, X does have some worthwhile choices inside its subscription suite.
Its improved analytics instruments are undoubtedly of worth to social media managers, whereas entry to its revised model of TweetDeck (now referred to as “X Professional”) can be a worthy addition.
It’s simply that X itself is now not as worthwhile to manufacturers and influencers because it as soon as was, which signifies that choices like this are additionally a lesser consideration total.
Possibly, there’s some new Grok replace that can make it a extra worthwhile providing, or possibly X nonetheless has some methods up its sleeve to drive Premium take-up. However it stays a minor consideration for almost all of the app’s customers.
And except X turns into extra worthwhile total, I don’t see how X Premium turns into an even bigger factor.