- Twitter Blue subscribers can now opt to purchase a year’s subscription upfront.
- The annual price is only available on the web and not via Twitter’s iOS app.
- The annual plan arrives as reports circulate that Twitter is facing several issues regarding finances.
After relaunching its Blue subscription service late last year, Twitter is now seemingly trying to get folks to pay for a year’s access up front.
An updated Help Center page now features a new annual pricing structure for Twitter. The price for a year comes in at $84 which means that subscribers that choose this option get a month and a half off if you pay this way rather than $8 per month over 12 months The annual price is only available on the web and can’t be purchased via the Twitter iOS app.
Furthermore, Twitter Blue is only available in six countries as of time of writing, namely the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.
As The Verge points out, paying up front for a year of Twitter Blue doesn’t grant you any additional perks, nor does it expedite the verification process.
Perhaps then, the reason this option exists is simply because Twitter needs the money.
The social media firm has reportedly been sued by the California Property Trust for failing to pay rent for a building it operates out of in San Francisco. As Engadget reported earlier this month, the firm reportedly stop paying rent on all of its offices to cut costs.
Back in December, Fortune reported that Twitter was being used by a software supplier – Imply Data – for failing to honour a multi-year long, multimillion dollar contract.
The financial woes are racking up for Twitter but, the tide may be turning for the platform.
This week Axios reported that media companies, sports leagues and newsrooms stood to gain a lot from content deals with with Twitter. The report highlights how, despite vocal disdain for Twitter, the likes of Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and Axios itself plan to participate in various Twitter content deals such as the World Economic Forum currently on the go.
The report reveals that several of the aforementioned media houses are still running advertising in a bid to drum up more subscriptions to their outlets.
Since taking over as Chief Twit, Musk has seen his fortune plummet. The billionaire entered the record books this year when his net worth fell by as much as $182 billion, the largest fall off since Japanese Masayoshi Son lost $58.6 billion in 2000.
[Image – Chris J. Davis on Unsplash]
