Mobile Spending Rises Despite User Decline - x News

X's Revenue Growth Amidst User Decline

Recent data reveals that the social media platform X has experienced an increase in revenue generated through its mobile application over the last year. This growth occurred despite a concurrent decrease in the number of active users, according to new findings.

Increased Consumer Spending

Global consumer expenditure within the X mobile app, encompassing both iOS and Android platforms, rose by 76.3% year-over-year. This comparison focuses on similar periods in January, as reported by app intelligence firm Appfigures.

Appfigures’ analysis indicates that X’s global consumer spending on iOS and Android totaled $7.6 million for the period of January 1-20, 2024. In the corresponding timeframe of January 2025, consumer spending climbed to $13.4 million.

It’s important to note that this figure represents in-app purchases only. Revenue derived from advertising or web-based subscriptions, where X users benefit from discounted rates, is not included.

Factors Influencing Spending

The introduction of xAI’s Grok AI chatbot within the X app is potentially contributing to the rise in consumer spending. Noticeable increases in net revenue were observed shortly after the initial testing of a free version of Grok in November.

This trend continued with the addition of a faster model and a dedicated Grok button to the X app in mid-December 2024, alongside the launch of a new image generation model on December 9.

Furthermore, the integration of an NFL portal in late November aimed to enhance sports engagement on the platform. Given the popularity of sports discussions on X, this addition likely influenced user adoption.

Regional Performance

In the United States, X witnessed a 61.4% year-over-year increase in consumer spending on iOS and Android. Spending grew from $4.4 million (January 1-20, 2024) to $7.1 million during the same period in 2025.

Spending Trends Throughout 2025

While overall mobile consumer spending has increased year-over-year, the monthly totals haven’t followed a consistently upward trajectory. Fluctuations occurred, with spending decreasing in some months and increasing in others.

February 2025 represented the lowest monthly spending, reaching $9.6 million across iOS and Android. December saw the highest total, with $25.6 million, following increases that began in October leading up to the U.S. elections.

Top In-App Purchases

The most popular in-app purchases on the X iOS app in January 2025 included:

• X Premium Monthly subscription ($11/mo.)
• X Premium Plus Monthly subscription ($30/mo.)
• X Premium Basic Monthly ($4/mo.)
• Subscription to Elon Musk’s account directly ($4/mo.)
• X Premium’s Annual Subscription ($114.99/yr.)

Decline in Active Users

Despite the increase in consumer spending, data suggests a potential decrease in X’s active user base.

Estimates from app intelligence provider Sensor Tower indicate that both U.S. and worldwide daily active users on X decreased in January 2025. Each figure was down by approximately 13% compared to the same period last year. Year-over-year growth in monthly active users has also experienced a slight dip.

According to Jonathan Briskman, principal market insights manager at Sensor Tower, X had over 313 million worldwide mobile app MAUs (monthly active users) in the fourth quarter of 2024, and more than 300 million worldwide mobile app MAUs through January 2025.

Competitive Landscape

As X’s active usage declined in January 2025, daily active users on competing platforms Instagram Threads and Bluesky saw significant growth. Threads experienced an increase of over 170%, while Bluesky grew by 495%.

This growth is attributed to factors such as international expansions and the introduction of new features and functionality on both platforms.

X did not respond to a request for comment regarding its own internal MAU figures.

Advertising Revenue

Alongside consumer spending, indications suggest that X’s advertising revenue is also improving. Data from ad spend provider Guideline shows a 123% increase in ad spend in December 2024.

This improvement followed declines of -32% in November, and a previous trend of 60-80% declines over the past two years.

Updated after publication with newly released data from Guideline on ad spend.