Twitter Considers Subscription Service to Boost Revenue: A Ray of Hope For Financial Woes?

Twitter endured a less than stellar 2016, marked by disappointing financial results and sluggish user growth. A glut of headlines hinted at the potential buyout of the social networking giant, leading investors to view an acquisition as a lifeline. They believed Twitter required fresh capital injection and strategic leadership to help steer it towards positive financial terrain. Despite these expectations, ideal bidders seemed to beat a gradual retreat, leaving Twitter to fend for itself. One of the austerity measures it employed involved laying off approximately 300 employees in October.

The dire financial state of Twitter’s affairs was underlined by a report revealing the company’s digital ad revenue was on a downward trajectory, expected to drop by 4.7 percent in the ongoing year. In stark contrast, Snapchat, another major player in the social media space, was likely to witness its ad revenues skyrocket to the tune of 158%, potentially reaching $770 million solely within the U.S. Taking the projection forward, Snapchat’s revenue could surge to a whopping $2.2 billion by 2019. Meanwhile, social media behemoths Google and Facebook are predicted to maintain their dominating lead within the digital ad realm, extending their period of dominance indefinitely into the future.

This narrative paints a bleak picture for Twitter, but could the tide be turning for the better this year?

Rumors have gained traction that Twitter is contemplating launching a subscription-based service, designed to appeal to certain users ready to pay $19.99 a month for enhanced, exclusive features. User feedback – collected through a survey – indicates a curiosity and potential enthusiasm about such a service. The service would incorporate features developed specifically for the savvy Twitter user, intending to optimize their platform experience.

As extracted from the survey, the proposed premium toolset is set to offer valuable viewing, posting, and signaling tools. Alerts, trend and activity analysis, advanced analytics, integrated composing and posting tools, all bundled together in a personalized dashboard. The purpose of this comprehensive toolset is to simplify the task of tracking multiple interests, generating a bigger audience base, and seamlessly consuming a deluge of content and information in real-time.

Paying subscribers would also enjoy exclusive perks such as advanced audience insights and analytics and the tools to monitor multiple timelines from various accounts on multiple devices, all of this without any unnecessary ad interruptions.

Indeed, Twitter has been in the midst of significant changes recently, a response to allegations of abuse among other concerns on the platform. In a direct engagement with Twitter users last year, CEO Jack Dorsey solicited suggestions for improvements and new features for the site. A majority of users requested for a tweet edit and a bookmarking feature.

Could Twitter’s new strategy to monetize a portion of its vast database of over 300 million users provide the much-needed jolt to enhance its revenue? Only time will tell. This possible move to start a subscription-based service could mark the beginning of a transformative chapter in Twitter’s journey.