Twitter, which is owned by Elon Musk, began sharing ad revenue with select content creators on the network on Thursday (July 14). Users who signed up for Twitter Blue and earned more than five million tweet impressions per month for the previous three months are eligible for a piece of the pie.
An automatic email was sent to qualified creators informing them that their part of the ad revenue would be deposited into their linked Stripe accounts within the next three days.
Twitter announced that the program and its deployment would be extended to all eligible creators later this month.
“We’re expanding our creator monetisation offering to include ads revenue sharing for creators. This means that creators can get a share in ad revenue, starting in the replies to their posts. This is part of our effort to help people earn a living directly on Twitter. We’re rolling out the program more broadly later this month and all eligible creators will be able to apply.”
Following the announcement, some of the creators tweeted images of the email indicating that they were getting compensated handsomely for their work and virality. Billy Markus, co-creator of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, revealed his earnings, which totaled $37,050. Meanwhile, writer Brian Krassenstein, who has over 750,000 followers on Twitter, said that Twitter paid him about $25,000.
Aside from ad revenue, creators on Twitter also have the option to offer monthly paid memberships to subscribers
Musk took to the platform to announce that the first payment, for adverts that show in content creators’ comment threads, will be cumulative from the time the scheme was first introduced in February. Musk announced the payments earlier this week, stating that the first installment was $5 million.
“In a few weeks, X/Twitter will start paying creators for ads served in their replies. The first block payment totals $5M. Note, the creator must be verified and only ads served to verified users count,” tweeted Musk.
Since taking over Twitter, Musk has been looking for new ways to make money and bring more creators to the network. The reward comes at an important time since Meta has launched Twitter rival Threads to challenge the predominance of the bird app.
Many analysts have said that Threads will be a Twitter killer, but with news of rewards spreading like wildfire throughout social media, more content providers will be keen to go on board.
Aside from ad revenue, creators on Twitter now have the option to offer monthly memberships to consumers for $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99. Musk stated in a Twitter thread that for the next 12 months, the creators will make the most of the money because Twitter will not charge anything.
“For the next 12 months, Twitter will keep none of the money. You will receive whatever money we receive, so that’s 70% for subscriptions on iOS & Android (they charge 30%) and ~92% on the web (could be better, depending on payment processor),” tweeted Musk.
Musk also stated that after the first year, as the prices for iOS and Android decrease, Twitter will add a modest amount on top of that, depending on traffic.
