Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and Snapchat are each stepping up their push for premium subscription growth this summer with attractive promotional offers. For a limited time, these platforms are offering deep discounts designed to encourage new sign-ups and boost their respective add-on revenues.
Meta Verified: Big First-Month Savings
Meta is enticing new subscribers with a significant discount on the first month of its Meta Verified service. The offer, highlighted by social media observer Jonah Manzano, shows that new sign-ups can get the initial month at a heavily reduced rate before prices return to their standard level.
While the promotion is displayed in Australian dollars (AUD) in the shared example, the strategy signals a broader effort to drive adoption. By lowering the barrier to entry, Meta is betting that users who try the service will stick around once they see the benefits, such as verified badges and priority customer support.
X Premium: Annual Plan Discounts
Over at X, the platform is giving users 30% off annual subscriptions for both Premium and Premium Plus plans. This marks one of the platform’s more aggressive pushes to boost premium adoption, particularly after months of mixed reactions to its paid model.
Premium tiers offer perks like enhanced customization, reduced ad exposure, and access to the latest version of Grok AI. X is hoping these advantages will tempt more users to commit to a yearly plan, potentially locking in subscribers for longer.
Snapchat+: Half-Price for Two Months
Snapchat is also getting in on the seasonal promotions, offering 50% off the first two months of Snapchat+. This service gives subscribers exclusive features, early access to experimental tools, and unique customization options that enhance the Snap experience.
Snap’s approach is similar to Meta’s—reduce the initial cost to encourage trials and turn short-term users into long-term subscribers.
Will These Deals Drive Long-Term Growth?
While the offers are eye-catching, the real question is whether they will create lasting gains in subscription revenue. The likelihood appears limited. Many potential subscribers may have already signed up in earlier promotional cycles, and recent months have not brought substantial new content or features to sway hesitant users.
Still, there are incremental advantages:
- X Premium is banking on its expanded Grok AI tools as a lure for tech-savvy users.
- Snapchat+ continues to roll out advanced features that appeal to its loyal base.
- Meta Verified provides social credibility through verification, which may appeal to public figures, influencers, and brand accounts.
Yet, compared to ad revenue, these services remain small players in the overall income picture.
The Numbers Behind the Subscriptions
Exact subscriber figures are often closely guarded, but available data offers some insight.
- Meta Verified has contributed about $358 million to Meta’s “Other” revenue category since its launch in Q2 2023. At an average price of $13 per month, this suggests around 9 million subscriptions. While impressive, this is still minimal compared to Meta’s $31.5 billion in quarterly ad revenue.
- Snapchat+ is the strongest performer of the three, with 15 million subscribers generating about $150 million per quarter. Even so, this is a small fraction of the platform’s $1.36 billion in Q1 revenue.
- X Premium remains the weakest link, with around 1.5 million paying users—less than 0.5% of its total audience. This is far short of Elon Musk’s early target of hundreds of millions of subscribers. The company still hopes Grok AI will spark a surge in sign-ups, but with competition from OpenAI and Meta’s AI tools, the challenge is significant.
The Challenge of Replacing Ad Revenue
The ultimate goal for some platforms—especially X—was to reduce reliance on advertising by replacing it with subscription income. For Musk, this shift was intended to limit advertiser influence over platform content.
However, the reality is proving difficult. The expense of developing xAI has even forced X to raise Premium prices. And despite promotional pushes, subscription adoption rates suggest that advertising will continue to dominate as the primary revenue source for all three platforms.
This dependence means X, Meta, and Snapchat must keep advertisers happy while also growing their user bases to maintain ad appeal. Without a dramatic shift in consumer behavior, subscriptions will remain a supplemental revenue stream rather than a replacement.
Could Emerging Markets Be the Next Growth Frontier?
While Western markets appear close to saturation, developing regions could hold untapped potential. Lower promotional pricing in these areas could attract new subscribers who see added value in verification, customization, and exclusive features.
If these summer deals manage to gain traction in these markets, they could spark modest but steady growth over the next few years. Otherwise, these campaigns may serve more as short-term boosts than long-term game changers.
Bottom Line
Meta, X, and Snapchat are making a concentrated push this summer to grow premium subscriptions with generous introductory discounts:
- Meta Verified: Big first-month discount
- X Premium/Premium Plus: 30% off annual plans
- Snapchat+: 50% off the first two months
These offers will likely drive a temporary rise in sign-ups, but advertising will remain the dominant revenue source for the foreseeable future. Subscriptions may continue to provide valuable supplementary income, but their role as a primary funding model for social media seems unlikely—unless a major feature breakthrough captures mass consumer interest.
