According to app intelligence data given by Sensor Tower, Twitter’s creator platform Super Follows is off to a shaky start, contributing about $6,000 in U.S. iOS revenue in the first two weeks of its existence. And it costs roughly $600 to make in Canada. A minor percentage of the revenue could be credited to Ticketed Spaces, Twitter’s other in-app purchase available in the United States, but there’s no way for an outside firm to calculate it.
Twitter initially unveiled Super Follows during its February Analyst Day event, where the company highlighted many of its forthcoming initiatives to develop new revenue sources. Twitter’s economy is currently heavily reliant on advertising, and Super Follows is one of the few ways the company is attempting to diversify. With Ticketed Spaces, the firm is now allowing producers to charge for entry to their live events, and outside of the United States, Twitter has begun testing a premium product for elite users dubbed Twitter Blue.
However, Super Follows, which is aimed at creators, is the endeavor with the most mainstream appeal.
It’s also one that’s trying to cash in on the burgeoning creator economy, in which content creators gain a following and then generate revenue directly through subscriptions, reducing their reliance on ads and sponsor deals. To assist fund the development of the creation tools, the platforms they employ for this company skim a little off the top. (Twitter, for example, is just taking a 3% cut.)
The idea appears to make sense for Twitter, which already allows high-profile figures and common people to interact and converse in the same timeline. Fans may get even closer to their favorite creators with Super Follows, whether they’re singers, artists, comedians, influencers, writers, gamers, or other expertise. These authors can charge a monthly subscription fee of $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 to provide fans access to supplementary, “behind-the-scenes” content. Extra tweets, Q&as, and other interactions with subscribers are typical examples.
Super Follows were initially available to a small number of creators, including @MakeupforWOC, @TarotByBronx, @KingJosiah54, writer @myeshachou, internet personality, and podcaster @MichaelaOkla, spiritual healer @kemimarie, music charts tweeter @chartdata, and Twitch streamers @FaZeMew, @VelvetIsCake, @MackW Super Follows are available to less than 100 creators, according to Twitter.
