NFL Films via X
Elon Musk’s X wants Hollywood to know it’s open for business.
The social platform formerly known as Twitter has trailed its rivals when it comes to video, following some early stumbles. Don Lemon’s show was canceled in March 2024 after he interviewed Musk, and Paris Hilton suspended ads on X right after announcing a big content partnership with the platform.
Mitchell Smith, X’s head of original content, says the company’s video ventures this year have moved from the “crawl” stage to “walk.”
“Having world-class athletes and creators in their own right like Serena and Venus willing to launch a show with us is a great illustration of the evolution,” he said of the Williams sisters‘ decision to launch a new video podcast on X in August.
Smith also pointed to the recently launched “NFL Top 100,” a 100-episode original that’s an adaptation of the league’s special featuring the top players as voted by their peers.
So far, X has released more than 300 episodes of content across 18 originals since launching the effort in early 2024, which it says has yielded more than 700 million video views and 2 billion impressions. Smith said X wants to double that output over the next year and a half. That would still be a far cry from competitors like YouTube, which gets hundreds of billions of video views per day.
Though X has a bespoke catalog of shows, its pitch to creators is closer to YouTube than streamers like Netflix. X is not throwing any development money to shows branded as originals or buying them.
Instead, it’s pitching creators on monetizing their videos through X Amplify, its video ad sales tool, and offering to build custom ad treatments for shows. The creator gets a certain percentage of the ad revenue based on specific contract negotiations. Unlike YouTube, X doesn’t have a standard rate. X declined to comment on the split.
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X is pitching culture, not politics
Smith said one of X’s selling points is its ability to build series around newsmaking moments. It’s starting to build shows tied to creators around big events like the World Cup, for example.
“It’s an inherently social platform that now has a great video viewing experience,” Smith said. “And because it’s the first place people check, it’s really the one platform that truly moves at the velocity of culture.”
For X, video has the potential to boost user engagement while moving the platform toward sports and lifestyle content and away from hot-button political issues.
“We’re looking to work with strong creators, whether that’s endemic creators, athletes, musicians, actors, or even sports teams in leagues, in the most highly engaged content categories on the platform,” Smith said.
Up next, Smith said he’s pursuing more projects with the NFL. He’s also looking for more finance-focused shows in the vein of Anthony Pompliano’s daily business show, “From the Desk of Anthony Pompliano,” and other female-aimed fare like Khloé Kardashian’s “Khloé in Wonderland” podcast and Alexis Ohanian-produced “The Offseason” about women’s soccer. (Ohanian is married to Serena Williams).
In other categories, Smith has ambitions for series that take viewers behind the scenes with music artists and gamers, and competition shows.
“I’d love to crack a daily game show,” Smith said.
X faces some skepticism about its video plans
X still needs to convince more producers and advertisers that it’s a worthwhile destination for their time and money.
When Smith’s former boss, Brett Weitz, left in April after about two years as X’s global head of content, talent, and brand sales and wasn’t replaced, some in the industry wondered about the platform’s commitment in that area.
One entertainment exec who recently heard X’s originals pitch said it seemed to still be in the experimental phase and questioned whether brands would be on board.
“I’m not confident I could get enough views and monetize it with a brand that’s comfortable being there,” this person said. “And brands aren’t as confident in what the value of the views are.”
Some advertisers fled X after Musk acquired the platform in October 2022, though there have been some recent signs that its ad revenue is turning around. X also sued several major brands, alleging they illegally withheld ad dollars from the platform. The environment around X can make it a tough sell for some advertisers and producers when there are bigger platforms without the polarizing history, such as YouTube. Some partners also prefer more templated offerings that they can slot into.
Regarding past controversy, Smith countered that the platform has been able to attract big names like the Williamses and Kardashian, and rolled out improvements for advertisers.
“One of the great things about original programming is that it shows the innovation of the platform, the video offering,” he said. “There’s a very dynamic offering in terms of the actual types of ad units, and it doesn’t have to be one size fits all.”
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