X vs YouTube in the Battle for Content Creators

Elon Musk made a statement that immediately caught the industry’s attention: the X platform is ready to dramatically increase payments to content creators to compete with YouTube and possibly surpass it in monetization. Musk posted this on December 30, 2025, in response to a viral post by an X user who proposed a complete overhaul of the compensation model for creators.

Catalyst for the Initiative

On December 29, a user named Signulll posted a message that quickly went viral: he suggested increasing payments to creators “by multiples, possibly even more than YouTube.” The author argued that platforms that truly pay creators would become the only sources of high-quality, verified content after large language models and AI absorb the rest of the internet.

Musk responded briefly but decisively: “Okay, let’s do this, but strictly prevent any attempts to game the system.” In his post, he mentioned X’s Head of Product Nikita Bier, who confirmed the team’s readiness to implement the plan and stated that there is a “new method that should eliminate 99% of fraud.” According to Bier, algorithms will track any schemes of view manipulation or donation fraud, allowing the platform to safely scale payments.

Industry Skepticism

The reaction from major industry players was cautious. One of the most famous YouTube creators, Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson, wrote:

“Competing with YouTube’s revenue will be a very tough task. They are the best platform in this regard. I’ve earned nine-figure ad revenue from just one channel.”

MrBeast’s doubts are based on facts: YouTube shares 55% of ad revenue with creators.

With a total platform revenue of about $31 billion per year, this provides stable and significant payouts. X currently generates much less ad revenue, creating a fundamental obstacle to the promised “much higher payments.”

Current State of X Monetization

Currently, X creators can earn through several channels:

• share of ad revenue for verified users,
• subscriptions ranging from $2.99 to $9.99 per month,
• audience donations,
• paid Spaces for audio events.

However, average payouts remain low — around $8–12 per million views for verified creators. This is far below YouTube, where creators with large audiences earn hundreds to thousands of dollars per million views.

Musk’s Strategic Goal

Musk’s initiative is part of a broader strategy to turn X into a universal app, similar to WeChat, where users can not only communicate but also make financial transactions, watch content, and use services. The platform is expanding cooperation with Visa to launch the X Money payment system and expanding financial service features, including microtransactions and cryptocurrency integration.

The success of the new payout policy will depend on X’s ability to increase ad revenue, build a sustainable economic model, and retain creators without turning the initiative into a costly marketing experiment. For now, the statements remain intentions — without concrete figures or implementation timelines.

Historical Parallels and AI Analysis

Historical patterns show that attempts to “kill YouTube” by increasing creator payouts mostly ended in failure.

Examples:

• Facebook Watch — billion-dollar investments in content, but the platform never built a sustainable ecosystem.
• Quibi — $1.75 billion spent on short-form content; the project closed after 6 months.
• CNN+ — attempt to attract viewers with exclusive content and high creator payouts failed; the service was shut down within months.
  
  
  

The main problem: YouTube generates massive ad revenue ($31B/year), allowing it to share 55% with creators, while X currently earns much less from advertising.

From the perspective of big data and AI analysis, Musk’s statement may indicate preparation for an IPO or a search for new investors. High payouts to creators are traditionally used as a marketing tool to demonstrate a “growing platform.” The question remains open: can X monetize its audience effectively enough to pay creators more than YouTube without turning into a costly experiment?