Twitter Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)

Mansoor Iqbal

Updated: February 22, 2024

Twitter is a real-time microblogging platform, publicly launched in July 2006. At launch, its defining features were the tight limits placed on each post, known at a tweet. Originally, users could only use 140 characters, although that has been elongated over the years.

Formed by former Odeo employees Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, the site originally used SMS to send tweets onto the network. It received its first boost of users at SXSW 2007, when the founders showed all the tweets hitting the network in real-time.

From there, Twitter grew out its userbase to reach over 300 million monthly active users. It added new features, but for the most part has retained the same look and feel of early Twitter, much to the chagrin of shareholders who wanted Twitter to be more competitive with Facebook.

Twitter has branched out into other areas of innovation, such as short-video with Vine or live-video with Periscope, but both were cancelled by the company. Some have argued that Twitter mismanaged both projects, as Vine came well before Music.ly and TikTok, but was unable to capture the market which was clearly there for the taking.

This may be partly due to the management of Twitter during that period, which included founder Jack Dorsey, then founder Evan Williams, then shortly after that Dick Costolo, followed by another Jack Dorsey turn. In the second round, Dorsey was also CEO at Block Inc (previously Square), which led to complaints from shareholders and even a lawsuit.

In 2022, Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, after months of back and forth between the company and Musk haggling the price. Musk cut more than half of the staff count, opened up the verified platform to all members, as long as they paid a monthly subscription, and in 2023 changed the name of the company to X.

Musk has aims of making X a super-app, in the vein of WeChat in China. In this new app, users will have video and voice call options, messaging, mini-programs, and payment services. He has also unbanned a lot of banned for life accounts, such as Kanye West and ex-President Donald Trump.

The changes spooked advertisers, which have left the platform en-masse causing a drop of more than 50 percent in advertising revenues. It has also brought about a whole host of Twitter-alternatives, which include Instagram’s Threads.

We have collected data and statistics on Twitter. Read on below to find out more.

Twitter Key Statistics

  • Twitter generated $3.4 billion revenue in 2022, an 11% decline year-on-year
  • 75% of Twitter’s revenue came from advertising in 2023
  • Twitter has 421 million monthly active users, adding 20 million in 2023

Twitter Overview

Title 1Title 2
Launch date21 March 2006
HQSan Francisco, California
PeopleElon Musk (CEO), Jack Dorsey (co-founder)
Business typePrivate
OwnerElon Musk
IndustrySocial networking

Twitter Revenue

Twitter generated $3.4 billion revenue in 2023, a 22% decrease on 2022 figures.

Twitter quarterly revenue 2012 to 2023 ($bn)

Twitter annual revenue 2012 to 2023 ($bn)

YearRevenue ($bn)
20120.3
20130.6
20141.4
20152.2
20162.5
20172.4
20183
20193.4
20203.7
20215
20224.4
20233.4

Sources: Bloomberg, Company data, The Information, Social App Report

Twitter Revenue by Segment

Advertising revenues have plummeted over the past two years, and its subscription and data licensing side has not been able to make up for that loss.

Twitter annual revenue by segment 2015 to 2023 ($bn)

YearAdvertisingSubscription & data licensing
20151.90.2
20162.20.2
20172.10.3
20182.60.4
20192.90.4
20203.20.5
20214.50.5
202240.4
20232.50.9

Source: Company data

Twitter Revenue by Region

Even though only about 15% of Twitter’s users come from the US, it is responsible for more than 50% of the company’s revenues.

Twitter annual revenue by region 2018 to 2023 ($bn)

YearUnited StatesRest of World
20181.61.4
20191.91.5
202021.6
20212.82.2
20222.42
20231.751.65

Source: Company data

Twitter Profit

Twitter has not reported its net profit / loss for 2022 and 2023, although we suspect both years were unprofitable due to large loan paybacks.

Twitter annual net profit / loss 2012 to 2021 ($mm)

YearNet profit / loss ($mm)
2012-79
2013-645
2014-577
2015-521
2016-456
2017-108
20181206
20191466
2020-1136
2021-221

Source: Company data, The Information

Twitter Users

Twitter had an estimated 421 million monthly active users in 2023 and about 220 million daily actives.

Twitter annual users 2017 to 2023 (mm)

YearUsers (mm)
201040
201185
2012151
2013218
2014271
2015304
2016313
2017310
2018298
2019312
2020347
2021362
2022401
2023421

Source: Company data, eMarketer, Social App Report

Twitter Users by Region

Twitter’s US users have stagnated over the past few years, while international users have continued to increase.

Twitter annual users by region 2017 to 2023 (mm)

YearUnited StatesRest of World
201772238
201866232
201966246
202070277
202166296
202263305
202365356

Source: Company data

Twitter Age Demographics

Twitter has a near parity between the age brackets of 18 to 44 years old, with 35-44 the highest age bracket by a slight margin.

Twitter age demographics 2023 (%)

Age bracketPercentage of Users
13-17
18-24
25-34
35-49
50+

Source: Hootsuite and We Are Social

Twitter Gender Demographics

Twitter has one of the highest gender disparities out of all social networks, with 68.5% of all users being male.

Twitter gender demographics 2023 (%)

GenderPercentage of users
Male60.9
Female39.1

Source: Hootsuite and We Are Social

Most Followed Twitter Accounts

Elon Musk is the most followed account on Twitter, with its follower count rising rapidly since acquiring the company.

Most followed Twitter accounts 2023 (mm)

Followers (mm)
@ElonMusk168
@barackobama131
@justinbieber111
@cristiano110
@rihanna108
@katyperry106
@taylorswift1394
@narendramodi94
@realDonaldTrump87
@ladygaga83
@YouTube79

Note: As of December 2023. Source: Company data

Twitter vs Competitors: Users

Want to learn more about social apps? Check out our Social App Report

Twitter FAQ

When did Elon Musk buy Twitter?

Elon Musk bought Twitter on October 27 2022 for $44 billion

How many Americans use Twitter as a data source?

12 percent of Americans use it as a data source, according to Pew Research Center

How many brands use Twitter for marketing?

66 percent of brands with over 100 employees use Twitter for marketing purposes (eMarketer)

How much Twitter usage is mobile?

80% of Twitter usage happens on mobile devices (Google)

How many Twitter users in India?

There are 55 million Twitter users in India, according to App Annie

How much do the top 10% of Twitter users contribute?

In the US, top 10 percent of tweeters contribute 92 percent of tweets in 2020, up from 80 percent in 2018 (Pew Research Center)