Elon Musk Says Higher Priced Twitter Subscription Will Not Carry Advertisements

Musk said that ads are "too frequent on Twitter and too big," and that steps will be taken to address those issues in coming weeks.

By Reuters | Updated: 23 January 2023 09:23 IST

Elon Musk Says Higher Priced Twitter Subscription Will Not Carry Advertisements

Photo Credit: Reuters

Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October

Highlights

Twitter earns nearly 90 percent of its revenue from selling ads
Musk earlier said thar Basic blue tick will have half the number of ads
Higher tier Twitter Blue with no advertisements said to arrive this year.

Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that a higher priced subscription of the social media platform will not carry advertisements.

The billionaire also said that ads are "too frequent on Twitter and too big," and that steps will be taken to address those issues in coming weeks.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

Twitter earns nearly 90 percent of its revenue from selling digital ads and Musk recently attributed a "massive drop in revenue" to rights organizations that have pressured brands to pause their Twitter ads.

Earlier in December, Musk announced that Twitter's Basic blue tick will have half the number of advertisements and that it will offer a higher tier with no advertisements by 2023.

Last week, Twitter said it would price Twitter Blue subscription for Android at $11 (roughly Rs. 900) per month - the same as for iOS subscribers - while offering a cheaper annual plan for web users when compared to monthly charges.

Twitter Has About 2,300 Active Employees, Elon Musk Says

The blue check mark - previously free for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures - will now be open to anyone prepared to pay. It was rolled out last year to help Twitter grow revenue as owner Elon Musk fights to retain advertisers.

Google's Android users will be able to purchase Twitter Blue's monthly subscription for $11 (roughly Rs. 900), the same price as for Apple's iOS users, Twitter said on its website. The higher pricing for Android users is likely to offset fees charged by Android's Google Play Store, like Apple's App Store. The annual plan for subscription to Blue, only available on the web, was priced at $84 (roughly Rs. 6,800), a discount to the monthly web subscription price of $8 (roughly Rs. 650).

The discount for web users would be available in countries including United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, Twitter said.

The iQoo 11 is currently the most powerful Android phone you can buy in India. Should you buy it right away? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.