X announced a significant change to its Creator Revenue Sharing Program. 

Starting November 8, the company will pay monetized creators based on engagement from X Premium users rather than ad views.

Under the new system, creators earn revenue when X Premium subscribers reply to, repost, or like their content. This shift eliminates the previous requirement that advertisements be present in content replies to monetize.

Ads in replies will no longer impact your payout.

Instead, you’ll be paid based on engagement with your content from Premium users.

So, when your followers subscribe to X Premium and engage with your content, they support you directly.

— X (@X) October 9, 2024

X Premium, the platform’s subscription service starting at $8 per month, remains the sole monetizable audience. The company claims this change will lead to higher payouts for creators and states that X Premium subscriptions are growing.

According to Mashable, the move appears to be part of X’s strategy to focus on subscription revenue amid reported advertising sales declines. X previously disclosed a nearly 40% drop in revenue due to advertiser departures.

Previously, X did not monetize certain content deemed unfriendly to advertisers, such as pornography and violence. The new system’s disregard for ad presence could potentially alter content restrictions.

The platform reported record engagement during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, with 238 million posts generating 103 billion impressions over the two-week event. 

However, Reuters Institute’s recent report showed that TikTok had surpassed X as a news source, with 13% of respondents using the short-video platform for weekly news. 

This marked a 2% increase from the previous year and represented the first time TikTok had outpaced X, which stood at 10% usage for news.