- X has been trying to lure more creators to host on the platform through its ad-revenue program.
- But one survey found that only 5% of creators wanted to use X as their main platform.
Some creators remain reluctant to host their content on X after more than a year under Elon Musk's stewardship, citing concerns about the platform's ability to lure advertisers and unpredictability around ad-revenue payments, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
Since Musk bought Twitter in 2022, the new owner has been trying to lure more content creators onto his newly branded platform, X, through an ad-sharing program in which advertisements are featured within the replies of their posts.
MrBeast, a popular YouTuber, recently tested the waters of the site's ad program — after expressing concerns that X didn't pay enough — and received more than $250,00 for one video. Even then, X users were convinced that Musk rigged the outcome. The YouTuber also said that his payout was "a bit of a facade" and that his revenue would probably be higher than what most would experience.
Musk appeared to deny the accusations that he put his thumb on the scale for MrBeast. Either way, the Journal reported that some creators were reluctant to post their content on X partly because of the platform's sometimes tenuous relationship with big advertisers and unpredictability around payouts.
Many large advertisers have pulled out of the X platform since Musk's takeover because of concerns about brand safety, lax content moderation, and even Musk's own posts. In 2023, X was estimated to have brought in about $1.89 billion in revenue in ad revenue, a 54% drop from 2022, according to Insider Intelligence.
But as Musk acknowledged last year, the exodus could be an issue for content creators hoping to see a substantial payout from their posts.
"X isn't exactly a stable or reliable platform," Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at eMarketer, told the Journal. "Given the state of its ad business, it's hard to imagine it can convince most creators that it can provide them with a sustainable source of income."
Missed payments
According to the Journal, one survey from October found that just 5% of more than 450 creators planned to use X as their main platform to host their content in 2024.
The Journal reported that recently, some creators had also complained about the unpredictability around ad-revenue payouts.
One creator, Chris Reilly, who makes about $20 every several weeks, told the Journal his payments had stopped and resumed twice in the past month.
"I wouldn't encourage people to sign up for Premium right now and try to do the ad-revenue sharing until this is all sorted out," he told the newspaper.
In response to Business Insider's inquiry, Joe Benarroch, the platform's spokesperson, pointed to two posts from X, including one directly responding to the Journal's story.
"X's creator program, launched only 7 months ago, is making significant strides due to the dedication of a great team working to make it a success for all creators," Benarroch wrote on X in reply to a post from The Journal. "Critics will always offer biased opinions without firsthand experience or any real insight into the program's development or plans. Stay tuned!"
An official account for X's creator program also touted some of the platform's achievements since Musk's takeover.
"Creator payouts did not exist on this platform before the Ads Rev Share program," the post said, adding that payouts occurred every two weeks and that X planned to expand to video ads.
Samir Chaudry, a podcaster who makes educational posts about the creator economy and once consulted Musk on making his social-media company more alluring for creators, told the Journal that X was an important daily platform. But he said the site still lacked a clear business strategy.
He told the Journal: "They have to start showing us the path to building a business on the platform."