Twitter all out to focus on Video and Digital Payments arena through X Corp
Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, and owner Elon Musk have unveiled the company’s plans to expand its scope beyond digital advertising, focusing primarily on the video and digital payments space in a recent investor presentation. These strategic moves are expected to breathe new life into the social media giant following a tumultuous period that followed Musk’s acquisition last October.
Yaccarino, who assumed her role on June 5, shared with investors that Twitter is in preliminary talks with figures from the political and entertainment sectors, payment services, and media publishers. This investor meeting was Yaccarino’s first since taking over the reins at Twitter.
The bold new direction comes after several chaotic months that saw mass layoffs, criticism over inadequate content moderation, and the withdrawal of numerous advertisers concerned about their ads being associated with unsuitable content. However, this bleak landscape has started to shift. According to details from the investor presentation, no significant advertising holding companies are currently advising a pause in ad spend on Twitter. Prominent brands such as Warner Bros, Mondelez, McDonald’s, and Walmart have even resumed advertising on the platform.
In a further attempt to revitalize the company, Musk changed Twitter’s business name to X Corp, indicating his aspiration to build a “super app” along the lines of China’s WeChat. The envisioned app would incorporate digital payments among other services. As part of this initiative, Twitter has applied for “money transmitter licenses” in all 50 states, as revealed in the presentation.
Simultaneously, the platform is intensifying its focus on video content. In fact, vertical video already constitutes over 10 per cent of time spent on Twitter, according to another slide from the presentation. This shift towards video, along with the proposed foray into the digital payments sector, showcases the company’s ambition to drastically expand and diversify its service offerings, taking Twitter well beyond its traditional purview.
