After its recent announcement banning hashtags in Promoted Posts on X, Elon Musk has now unveiled another significant change to the platform’s ad strategy. X will soon implement a new pricing model that charges advertisers based on the vertical size of their ad visuals. In essence, the larger your ad appears on-screen, the more you’ll pay.
This upcoming change continues Musk’s vision of streamlining the X user experience, aligning with earlier steps aimed at maintaining a cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing feed.
Why X Ads Will Be Priced by Visual Size
As Elon Musk explained on X:
“X is moving to charging for ads based on vertical size, so an ad that takes up the whole screen would cost more than an ad that takes up 1/4 of the screen, otherwise the incentive is to create giant ads that impair the user experience.”
While the change hasn’t been officially implemented, nor updated in X’s ad pricing overview, it is clear this new ad model is imminent. That means advertisers need to prepare now for a pricing structure based on ad dimensions rather than uniform rates.
Focus Keyphrase: “X Ad Visual Pricing”
Understanding the Current Ad Landscape on X
At the moment, advertisers on X can leverage a wide variety of ad formats. These include standard text, image, and video ads—all of which vary significantly in screen real estate depending on the creative used.
Take a look at this comparison of X ads, which range from compact text ads to full-screen video placements.
You’ll notice that the screen presence varies dramatically. Larger visuals typically lead to more attention and interaction, giving advertisers a distinct advantage. Community Notes and other on-screen elements can even expand the vertical space an ad consumes, stretching beyond what some might consider reasonable.
Visual Size and the User Experience
Musk’s push to monetize visual space stems from a concern that some advertisers are using oversized media to dominate the feed. Although there are current limitations—like text being cut off after 180 characters and specific image/video size restrictions—clever formatting still allows brands to occupy more visual territory than others.
This imbalance affects the browsing experience, and Musk appears committed to resolving it by putting a price tag on screen real estate.
Final Thoughts
X’s decision to charge advertisers based on visual size is a strategic step toward a more balanced user experience. While it may seem like a revenue play on the surface, it also brings structure to an ad ecosystem where size can dramatically influence engagement.
For marketers, the key takeaway is clear: optimize your ad creative not just for impact, but also for efficiency. With X ad visual pricing on the horizon, every pixel could soon come at a cost.
