What changed here is the target: rather than charging advertisers or partners, Dorsey is pointing at users themselves. That direction was confirmed within months when reporting showed Twitter building tipping for exclusive content and paid TweetDeck access explicitly to ease its dependence on advertising.
First-order effects
Twitter's heaviest users — the ones who treat it as a professional tool — move from being purely monetized-through-ads to potential direct customers, starting with the products most tied to their workflows like TweetDeck and exclusive-content tipping.
Second-order effects
If user payments take hold, Twitter's dependence on advertiser demand softens, weakening the leverage big ad buyers have over product and moderation decisions; conversely, if subscriptions stall, the platform stays locked into ad-driven growth targets.
Third-order effects
The structural question this sets up is whether a platform built for maximum reach can convert a meaningful slice of free users into subscribers — falling into the subscription scale trap where paid products serve small niches while the core ad business still carries the company.
The trend: Consumer social platforms are testing whether user-paid subscriptions can complement advertising, with Twitter's exploration an early marker of the industry's push to diversify beyond ad-only revenue.
We're also in early stages of exploring add'l potential revenue products that complement our advertising business, which may include subscriptions & others. It is very early; we do not expect any revenue against these in 2020. $TWTR
Twitter says it's looking at subscription options as ad revenue drops sharply - will this mean only those who can afford it will have better tools to engage in public discourse? Will non-subscribers be penalised? https://www.cnn.com/...
In face of 23% decline in revenues, @twitter stock surges as @jack announces subscription pilot(s). Stock could double, in face of revenue declines, if firm busts a move to recurring revenue. #rundle #abouttime https://www.shorturl.at/kR168
This earnings should be enough to change narrative on $TWTR. Strong usage metrics and confirmation of subscription/e-commerce plans. Think stock trends up (and valuation re-rate) w big gaps on new rumors ... loosely similar to what $SPOT went through earlier this year https://twi…
Twitter grew mDAU by 34% and revenue is down 23% year over year. The revenue decline is surprising given Snap saw revenue grow 17% year over year for the same quarter. Must be an advertiser mix challenge (e.g. no summer movies advertising on Twitter ). https://www.cnbc.com/...
Avg monetizable DAU grew 34% y/y to 186 million, driven by global conversation around current events & ongoing product improvements. This marks the highest quarterly y/y growth rate we've delivered since reporting mDAU growth. We have 20M more avg mDAUs in Q2'20 vs. Q1'20. $TWTR …
We incurred an operating loss of $124 million, or -18% of total revenue, compared to operating income of $76 million or 9% for the same period in 2019. The decrease in year-over-year operating income is primarily due to lower revenue and higher personnel-related costs. $TWTR
By region, Q2 US ad revenue was $283 million, a decrease of 25%, reflecting brand spend pauses related to the pandemic and US civil unrest. Int'l ad rev was $279 million, down 20%. Int'l markets typically have a higher mix of direct response, which overall performed better. $TWTR
On revenue: Total revenue was $683 million in Q2, down 19% due to a decline in advertising revenue across most markets. US revenue was $365 million, a decrease of 20%. Total int'l revenue was $319 million, a decrease of 18%. $TWTR