- Elon Musk wants subscriptions to account for 50% of Twitter's total revenue.
- Many users say they won't pay for the service, however, according to a survey.
Elon Musk is betting that revenue from subscriptions can kickstart Twitter's $4 but data shows that many users may not be willing to pay to use the platform.
Musk has said he wants subscriptions to account for 50% of Twitter's total revenue, according to a message by a VP on an internal company slack.
The message, which was shared on Twitter by $4, said Musk thought the subscription aim "could help with conversations" and "pay by credit card could help with bots."
However, a survey from $4, a global market research and consulting firm, found half of frequent US Twitter users said they would ditch the platform if it came with a monthly subscription fee.
The firm polled 2,063 US adults, 1,212 of which were Twitter users, from October 20 to October 28, the $4
Pinar Yildirim, a professor of marketing and economics at The Wharton School, told Insider introducing a subscription model to Twitter could even drive users away from the platform. Yildirim said many users were waiting to see if Twitter becomes subscription-based.
"Worries about subscription changes have caused some users, either of higher status like some celebrities or ordinary users, to express a desire to potentially explore other platforms," she said.
"If in the end, the revenue model becomes such that everyone on Twitter has to pay a price," she said, "that's going to result clearly in a movement of users who may find it too expensive to simply be on Twitter."
Gone like Enron
Some public figures have said they'll $4 if Twitter starts charging for verification.
"$20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me," bestselling $4. "If that gets instituted, I'm gone like Enron."
The now-suspended Twitter Blue subscription had around 140,000 paying subscribers as of November 15, according to data $4.
If Musk wants to generate enough revenue to pay the $1 billion in interest owed on Twitter's debt each year, it would need to add about 10 million more paying customers, according to social media $4.