Social Platforms Struggle with Holiday Premium Push

X’s Premium Push Falls Short Despite Aggressive Campaign Tactics

Full-screen pop-up advertisements for X Premium are part of an aggressive campaign that was started by X (formerly Twitter). A poorly positioned “x” button that blends into the background makes it difficult for users to close these advertisements, which has led to criticism of their design.

Even though the platform’s user base is shrinking and its X Premium conversion rate is less than 1%, it still pushes for paid subscriptions. Elon Musk had projected that there would be 9 million subscribers by this time, and by 2028, he hopes to have 104 million.

According to current estimates, only roughly 1.3 million users have chosen to use the premium service. In an attempt to increase the number of subscribers, the platform is also advertising features like X Premium gifting.

The subscription campaign seems to be a component of a broader plan to lessen X’s reliance on advertising income. However, it doesn’t appear likely that these marketing initiatives will result in the significant increase in subscriptions the platform is looking for, considering the current premium feature offering.

Meta Pushes VR Hardware, But Content Still Lags Behind

In the meantime, Meta has adopted a similar strategy, showcasing its VR headsets—a key element of its metaverse strategy—through prime advertising space on Facebook and Instagram. But like X’s premium service, Meta has a basic problem: there aren’t enough intriguing VR apps and experiences in the current ecosystem to make the hardware a necessity.

Although the content library is expanding and the technology itself is impressive, it has not yet attained the level of essential consumer technology. However, Meta’s plan to make these products available to its billions of users may eventually pay off.

Social Apps’ Hard Sell Falls Flat

By sending ads for Snapchat+ straight to users’ message inboxes, Snapchat has followed suit. Social media now more closely resembles digital marketplaces than social spaces as a result of this direct marketing strategy and the work of the other platforms.

These aggressive marketing strategies, however, are less effective now than they may have been in the past because users are more skilled at sifting out promotional content.