X's Mobile Revenue Grew 128% in 2024, but the Competition isn't Slowing Down
This is a single insight from This Week in Apps - Nord's Big Break. Check out the full article for more insights.
January is behind us which means it's time to dig into X's performance as I have been doing since the platform launched a subscription service.
And because we have a whole year of data behind us, I zoomed out and looked at X's yearly revenue in addition to its monthly revenue. And boy, was 2024 a big year.
Twitter's future wasn't very clear after Elon's takeover back in 2022. Especially when he put more emphasis on its subscription service.
Many didn't think that could generate enough revenue, and if you've been following my writing, you know I was one of its biggest critics because it was barely making any money - just $6.8M of net revenue (earnings after store fees) in all of 2022. That's about a day and a half of ChatGPT's revenue.
But lots of things changed in 2023 and that resulted in a big revenue increase for the service, pushing it up to the big(ger) leagues with a 671% increase to $54M. And remember, this is all net revenue, which means what the company gets to keep after Apple and Google take their 30% cut of in-app purchases.
Things got even hotter in 2024, the year X's net revenue crossed into nine-digit land.
Our estimates show that X earned a tad over $123M of net revenue from the App Store and Google Play in 2024. That's an increase of $69M or 128% from 2023.
Why did revenue grow so much in 2024 (other than politics)?
- New subscription tiers - After the initial success of the $8 plan, X added a less expensive tier (Basic, $4/mo) and a more expensive tier (Premium+, now $30/mo). It also increased the Premium tier to $11/mo.
- Grok - Elon's other company, xAI, released a service to compete with ChatGPT and made it available within the X app. That got it more attention quickly and also made a paid subscription more attractive to those looking for an alternative to ChatGPT.
- Promotional offerings - For the first time, X offered a discount on yearly subscriptions for Black Friday and then for the end of the year.
More features adding to more revenue isn't a real surprise, especially in an era where AI has become a household topic, but a more flexible pricing strategy and aggressive promotions are something more developers can benefit from.
What about 2025?
I almost forgot!
According to our App Intelligence, X added $14.6M of net revenue in January from the App Store and Google Play - A drop of roughly 18% from December. I attribute the drop to an increase in annual subscription purchases in December as a result of the promotional campaigns X ran during Black Friday and at the end of the year. So this isn't a big surprise.
However, growing competition from Bluesky and Threads are actively attempting to hijack X's audience, which could spell trouble in the coming months. It's hard to tell what'll happen, but I don't expect people to be actively using multiple social networks and that's a race I expect to heat back up in 2025.
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.
