Earlier in the year, when Tesla billionaire Elon Musk announced a new verification policy on US-born social media giant X (formerly Twitter) that compelled users to pay monthly charges for authentication badges, a host of observers spelt doom for the strategy, terming it an overambitious approach that would not last long.
But lasting it has. And what’s more? Rival platforms have taken the cue and are increasingly adapting their income-raising strategies to the new-age realities, gradually vindicating Musk’s undertaking.
Just this past week, two consequential video-hosting platforms YouTube and TikTok, announced the unveiling of paid subscription services for their Kenyan users in what many see as a revenue mobilisation drive as the firms seek to diversify their streams and break away from over-reliance on advertisement as a singular income source.
On its part, YouTube launched its first-rate products, which include YouTube Premium and YouTube Music, which will see users pay a monthly fee to enjoy ad-free viewing, play videos in the background, and download videos for offline viewing.
An individual package for the YouTube Premium subscription will be charged at Sh499, while a family scheme will cost Sh949 as YouTube Music subscribers part with Sh419 and Sh669, respectively, for the two packages.
Shortly after YouTube’s announcement, TikTok director of government relations and public policy in sub-Saharan Africa Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda said, in Nairobi, the platform was mulling a firewall where users would have to subscribe to access content.
Meta, which owns a range of platforms that span Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, unveiled a subscription-for-no-ads programme in European markets in October, with projections of expanding it to other global users after achieving desired outcomes.
“People in the European Union (EU) can choose to continue using Facebook and Instagram with ads, or they could choose to pay a monthly fee for a subscription service with no ads on the two platforms,” said Meta.
“If a person chooses to subscribe, they won’t see ads, and we will not process their information for personalised advertising.”
However, the rapidly unfolding developments in social media usage are causing jitters and unease among marketers, brand promoters and influencers decrying the sustained disruption of their trade.
Social media commentator Egline Samoei expressed fears that the subscription models would trigger a mass exodus to alternative free platforms, reducing the advertising audiences for marketers.
“The subscription models will impact the social media ecosystem in different ways. First, it could lead to an exodus of users from the paid platforms to alternative free options, and this will lead to the decline of users resulting in a reduction of followers for influencers and advertising audiences for marketers,” observes Ms Samoei.
“On the contrary, it could lead to the emergence of quality content as we will see fewer spam accounts. Marketers should be ready for market shifts and new trends and should be ready to try out new ways of reaching target audiences.”
Her view is shared with digital marketing strategist Nyandia Gachago who says brand promoters will need to explore more direct engagement methods with their audiences if social media users massively shift to ad-free package subscriptions.
On the fairness of pricing and the derived value worth of the subscriptions, Ms Gachago says it’s dependent on individual users as different people weigh enhanced experiences against costs differently.
“For platforms, it reflects a pursuit of sustainable revenue amid evolving user preferences and market dynamics. For users, it will be opinions will vary due to consumer perceptions of value. Some people were already paying for premium packages before this,” says Ms Gachago.
Ms Samoei sees the rush by the firms to introduce subscription models as defeatist, as user revenue will be unlikely to match what they collect from brand advertising.
“The amount of income they are eyeing will be determined by the pricing of the packages and the number of subscribers they get. But still, you will notice that brands and advertisers usually spend a lot of money on social media ads if you compare to what a single individual would pay even in a year,” she says.
