Twitter is in a rush to cash in, and in another step that could lead to some revenue, it has expanded its Twitter Blue subscription to six new countries. Paid plans are currently available in Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, for a total of 12 regions that users can subscribe to.
The company also launched a new Spaces tab with curated stations for live and recorded spaces along with podcasts. Users without a Twitter Blue subscription were able to access the Spaces tab, but it mostly shows live audio sessions that are currently happening.
Twitter is also restoring themed stations that list themed Spaces stations. Company started testing it in August before Musk took over. But in recent months, Spaces has had little oversight because of layoffs. Now, the social network may be relying on algorithms to group together related real-time audio conversations.
The social network only offers podcasts to Blue subscribers and “some people on Twitter for iOS apps and Twitter for Android.” Podcasts are also included Twitter in the pre-Musk era, but the company seems to be continuing to work on some of those projects. Twitter says there will be no way to search for podcasts at first. So you will have to listen to whatever the algorithm serves you.
Twitter Blue’s expansion is not surprising as the company aims to bring in more revenue by any means possible. Last month, the social media company allowed people on Android to register. On Thursday, Twitter announced that it will be discontinuing free access to its API and will roll out a basic paid plan next week. While the company did not announce the price tag, Elon Musk tweeted that the basic plan can cost $100 a month — this can be quite challenging for some developers, students, and independent researchers.
Although the company has registered a drop in ad revenue, the good news for Musk is that many companies including PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch InBev have allegedly committed millions of dollars to Superbowl takeover ads on Twitter. Last month, social media in partnership with ad technology company DoubleVerify Integral Ad Science (IAS) to notify marketers if their ads appear next to inappropriate tweets.
