X/Twitter: number of monetizable daily active users worldwide 2017-2022

X/Twitter has experienced a turbulent year since Elon Musk came close to purchasing the company, which has in turn raised concerns about the number of bots on the platform. Nevertheless, user numbers have continued to rise. In the last reported quarter, the number of global monetizable daily active users (mDAU) on X/Twitter amounted to 237.8 million users, up from 229 million mDAU in the previous quarter. Overall, this is an increase in mDAU of over 15 percent when compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In addition, monetizable daily active users in the United States also increased, and throughout June and July 2022, X Premium rolled out an increase in the cost of its membership for new subscribers.

Who is using X/Twitter?

As of the beginning of 2022, men made up 56.4 percent of all X/Twitter users worldwide. Users between the ages of 25 and 34, who accounted for 38.5 percent of X/Twitter's global audience, made up the largest audience share. Moreover, one-fifth of users worldwide were between the ages of 35 and 49, indicating that the platform is not so popular amonst younger audiences. In 2021, Generation Z X/Twitter users in the United States spent more time on other major social networks, such as TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram than they did on Twitter.

X/Twitter and advertising

In 2021, X/Twitter’s annual revenue increased steeply, generating more than five billion U.S. dollars in total, with the vast majority of revenue coming from advertising. Overall, almost a quarter of global marketers said they planned to increase their spending on X/Twitter in 2022, whilst the majority said they did not plan to change their expenditure on the platform. In recent years, X/Twitter almost tripled its advertising expenditure, boosting ad spending from 56 million U.S. dollars in 2020 to over 167 million U.S. dollars in 2021.