The micro-Blogging site – Twitter says it is looking at the option of exploring a subscription based model to level up finances, as advertising revenue dwindled sharply in the second quarter.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, told analysts during an investor call that there is likely to be some tests, this year, on various approach that the company would take as regards the subscription model.
“I have a really high bar for when we would ask consumers to pay for aspects of Twitter”. Jack Dorsey say. Jack also confirms that the company is seeking to explore additional sources to add to Twitter’s revenue.
Due to people’s quest for entertainment, news, and information – amidst the pandemic, the company experienced the second straight quarter of growth in the number of users. However, Twitter’s revenue on advertisement dropped, as businesses doubled down on spending on ads and marketing, also due to the pandemic.
Twitter reported a 34% growth to 186 million daily users for the period that ended on the 30th of June. In the first quarter, Twitter recorded a 24% increase in the number of user, and this resulted in the company‘s shares gaining 3% in the first quarter of 2020.
In the second quarter, however, the company recorded a 19% decline in sales revenue, when compared with the previous year.
This has led to the company’s decision to attempt subscription as another way of generating revenue, since advertising amounts to 82% of Twitter’s total revenue.
“We want to make sure any new line of revenue is complementary to our advertising business. We do think there is a world where subscription is complementary, where commerce is complementary, where helping people manage paywalls…, we think is complementary,” Jack Dorsey said.
This report comes after Jack Dorsey confirms that they are having a “tough week” at Twitter. This is connected to the security and privacy breach the company encountered last week, where Twitter accounts of some high-profile personalities, and companies, was hacked, and used to tweet a scam cryptocurrency giveaway.
Earlier today, Twitter Support tweeted that 130 accounts were targeted by the attackers, out of which 45 accounts were used to send tweets; 36 accounts had their DM accessed, and 8 unverified accounts had their “Your Twitter Data” downloaded.