社交网络X,前身为推特(Twitter),长期以来一直试图通过为用户提供Ticketed Spaces(允许创作者对他们的独家内容收费)、Tips(用户向原创者的付费渠道)等多种盈利工具,在创作者经济中分一杯羹,并取得了不同程度的成功。
其中一项新功能名为“订阅”(Subscriptions),以前被称为“超级关注”(Super Follows),允许用户为按月付费的订阅者提供独家内容。该功能于2021年首次推出,X的所有者埃隆·马斯克在今年4月将其更名为“订阅”。
虽然X没有透露该功能的总订阅者数量,也没有透露单个创作者积累的订阅者数量,但《财富》杂志获得的有关马斯克的数据表明,订阅功能在X宣称的5.41亿用户中并没有真正火起来。
《财富》杂志查阅的资料显示,马斯克在X平台拥有1.55亿粉丝,为粉丝最多的账号。但仅有约4万多名用户订阅了马斯克,占其粉丝总数的0.025%。这些订阅者每人每月支付4美元,即可获得这位科技界亿万富翁的独家内容。在苹果(Apple)和X分成之前,这相当于每年近200万美元的收入。一位知情人士表示,其他几位知名创作者在X上的付费订阅者不到5,000人,与他们庞大的粉丝群相比,这一数字相对较少。
据该消息人士称,创作者可以在X上设定他们想要收取的订阅费用,以1美元为单位递增,最高可达250美元。推特最初推出该功能时,创作者的订阅费用只能设定为2.99美元、4.99美元或9.99美元。
创作者也可以选择为订阅者提供多少服务。X创作者能够为订阅者提供的服务包括独家现场音频“空间”会话和满足订阅者要求的奖励“幕后”推文。
马斯克有时一天发24条推特,但很少为订阅者发布独家内容。自4月以来,马斯克似乎已经为订阅者发布了7次帖子,并拥有两个独家“空间”,但自6月下旬以来就再也没有发布过帖子。
目前尚不清楚谁在X上拥有最多的付费订阅者,但其他平台上的高级订阅会员可以吸引更多的付费订阅者。例如,OnlyFans上的顶级创作者每月收入超过30万美元——尽管是通过流媒体播放成人(NSFW)内容,这与马斯克为订阅者提供的内容大不相同。在拥有与订阅功能类似功能的Patreon平台上,喜剧播客二人组沙恩·吉利斯和马特·麦卡斯克拥有近7万名订阅者,月费在1美元到50美元之间。
X的一位消息人士告诉《财富》杂志:“我认为目前的订阅功能表现差强人意。”
付费订阅从来都不是该平台的摇钱树。据科技博客网站TechCrunch报道,当该功能于2021年9月以“超级关注”的名字首次推出时,仅带来了微不足道的6,000美元收入。根据Appfigures的估计,到2022年2月,该功能的收入已达53万美元。
X的收入分成仅为创作者一生中第一笔5万美元收入的3%。超过这一门槛,创作者有望获得高达80%的收入。今年4月,马斯克将该功能重新命名为“订阅”,随后他宣布,该平台将在一年内放弃按照惯例收取的3%分成。
当这项功能还被称为“超级关注”时,用户需要1万名粉丝,并且在过去30天内至少发布25条推文,才能使用该功能。自那以后,这一先决条件已经缩减到只需要500名粉丝,且没有最低发帖量要求。
X没有立即回应《财富》杂志的置评请求。(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
社交网络X,前身为推特(Twitter),长期以来一直试图通过为用户提供Ticketed Spaces(允许创作者对他们的独家内容收费)、Tips(用户向原创者的付费渠道)等多种盈利工具,在创作者经济中分一杯羹,并取得了不同程度的成功。
其中一项新功能名为“订阅”(Subscriptions),以前被称为“超级关注”(Super Follows),允许用户为按月付费的订阅者提供独家内容。该功能于2021年首次推出,X的所有者埃隆·马斯克在今年4月将其更名为“订阅”。
虽然X没有透露该功能的总订阅者数量,也没有透露单个创作者积累的订阅者数量,但《财富》杂志获得的有关马斯克的数据表明,订阅功能在X宣称的5.41亿用户中并没有真正火起来。
《财富》杂志查阅的资料显示,马斯克在X平台拥有1.55亿粉丝,为粉丝最多的账号。但仅有约4万多名用户订阅了马斯克,占其粉丝总数的0.025%。这些订阅者每人每月支付4美元,即可获得这位科技界亿万富翁的独家内容。在苹果(Apple)和X分成之前,这相当于每年近200万美元的收入。一位知情人士表示,其他几位知名创作者在X上的付费订阅者不到5,000人,与他们庞大的粉丝群相比,这一数字相对较少。
据该消息人士称,创作者可以在X上设定他们想要收取的订阅费用,以1美元为单位递增,最高可达250美元。推特最初推出该功能时,创作者的订阅费用只能设定为2.99美元、4.99美元或9.99美元。
创作者也可以选择为订阅者提供多少服务。X创作者能够为订阅者提供的服务包括独家现场音频“空间”会话和满足订阅者要求的奖励“幕后”推文。
马斯克有时一天发24条推特,但很少为订阅者发布独家内容。自4月以来,马斯克似乎已经为订阅者发布了7次帖子,并拥有两个独家“空间”,但自6月下旬以来就再也没有发布过帖子。
目前尚不清楚谁在X上拥有最多的付费订阅者,但其他平台上的高级订阅会员可以吸引更多的付费订阅者。例如,OnlyFans上的顶级创作者每月收入超过30万美元——尽管是通过流媒体播放成人(NSFW)内容,这与马斯克为订阅者提供的内容大不相同。在拥有与订阅功能类似功能的Patreon平台上,喜剧播客二人组沙恩·吉利斯和马特·麦卡斯克拥有近7万名订阅者,月费在1美元到50美元之间。
X的一位消息人士告诉《财富》杂志:“我认为目前的订阅功能表现差强人意。”
付费订阅从来都不是该平台的摇钱树。据科技博客网站TechCrunch报道,当该功能于2021年9月以“超级关注”的名字首次推出时,仅带来了微不足道的6,000美元收入。根据Appfigures的估计,到2022年2月,该功能的收入已达53万美元。
X的收入分成仅为创作者一生中第一笔5万美元收入的3%。超过这一门槛,创作者有望获得高达80%的收入。今年4月,马斯克将该功能重新命名为“订阅”,随后他宣布,该平台将在一年内放弃按照惯例收取的3%分成。
当这项功能还被称为“超级关注”时,用户需要1万名粉丝,并且在过去30天内至少发布25条推文,才能使用该功能。自那以后,这一先决条件已经缩减到只需要500名粉丝,且没有最低发帖量要求。
X没有立即回应《财富》杂志的置评请求。(财富中文网)
译者:中慧言-王芳
X, formerly Twitter, has long tried to carve out a slice of the creator economy by offering a variety of monetization tools for users such as Ticketed Spaces, Tips, and more with varying levels of success.
One of its newer tools is called Subscriptions, formerly known as Super Follows, which allows users to provide exclusive content for followers who pay them a monthly fee. The feature was first launched in 2021 and renamed by X owner Elon Musk in April.
While X does not disclose the number of total subscribers to the feature, or the number of subscribers that individual creators have amassed, data obtained by Fortune regarding Musk suggests that Subscriptions is not exactly catching fire among X’s alleged 541 million users.
According to material viewed by Fortune, Musk (the most followed user on X with 155 million followers) has garnered just over 40,000 subscribers, or about 0.025% of his followers, who each pay $4 a month to get exclusive content from the tech multibillionaire. That equates to nearly $2 million annually, before Apple and X’s cut. A source familiar with the matter said that several other high-profile creators have less than 5,000 paying subscribers on X, a relatively modest number compared with their large followings.
Creators set the price they want to charge on X for subscriptions, all the way up to $250 in $1 increments, according to the source. When Twitter initially launched the feature, users were limited to setting a monthly fee of either $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99.
Creators choose how much, or how little, they give their subscribers, too. Among the menu of offerings an X creator can serve their subscribers are exclusive live audio “spaces” sessions and bonus “behind-the-scenes” tweets of their choosing.
Musk, who sometimes tweets as often as 24 times a day, rarely puts out exclusive content for subscribers. Musk appears to have posted seven times for subscribers since April, has held two exclusive spaces, and hasn’t posted since late June.
It’s not clear who has the highest number of paying subscribers on X, but premium subscriptions on other platforms can command far more paying subscribers. Top creators on OnlyFans, for example, can earn over $300,000 per month—albeit by streaming NSFW content, which is far different from what Musk is offering his subscribers. On Patreon, a platform that functions similarly to the Subscriptions feature, comedic podcast duo Shane Gillis and Matt McCusker have nearly 70,000 subscribers who pay between $1 and $50 a month.
“I think Subscriptions in its current state are a bust,” a source at X told Fortune.
Paid subscriptions have never been a cash cow for the platform. When it was first introduced as Super Follows in September 2021, the feature raked in a minuscule $6,000 in revenue, per TechCrunch. According to estimates by Appfigures, revenue by February 2022 had reached $530,000.
X’s share of the revenue is a mere 3% of what a creator earns up to their first $50,000 in lifetime earnings. Beyond that threshold, creators can expect to pocket up to 80% of their earnings. Following Musk’s rebranding of the feature as “Subscriptions” in April, he announced that the platform would abstain from collecting its customary 3% share for an entire year.
When the feature was still called Super Follows, users needed 10,000 followers and a minimum of 25 tweets within the past 30 days before they could use the feature. This prerequisite has since been scaled down to a mere 500 followers with no minimum post requirement.
X did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.