X to Launch TV App in Quest for More Video Viewers
Elon Musk is gunning for YouTube.
The billionaire’s social platform X is launching a TV app as it aims to grow its user base by expanding its video offerings, the company announced Tuesday.
“This will be your go-to companion for a high-quality, immersive entertainment experience on a larger screen,” CEO Linda Yaccarino posted.
The app is still being built, Yaccarino said, but she promised it would include a trending video algorithm, AI-powered topics to organize videos by subject, a cross-device experience that enables viewers to start watching on their phone and move to TV, and casting from mobile devices to larger screens.
“Coming soon to most smart TVs,” Yaccarino said,
The move, expected for several months, comes as X tries to expand its video offerings, an effort that notably saw popular YouTuber Mr. Beast recruited to the platform and included deals with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, the latter of which spectactularly fell apart after the former CNN host interviewed X owner Elon Musk for his first video.
Carlson’s interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a video of a rocket from Musk’s SpaceX were part of the preview video the company shared in a post.
One of the most notable aspects of the new TV app will be its ability to cast video from smartphones to larger screens, mimicking tech recently offered by Alphabet’s Google and Amazon. The company said in the last 30 days, users have watched 23 billion minutes worth of video on X.
The app is debuting with no ads.
“We do plan to monetize it, and will discuss different forms of partnerships — and that may include ads,” X said in a memo to potential customers and partners they’re targeting.
As part of his rebranding of Twitter after purchasing the platform in October 2022, Musk has pushed the idea that X can be an “everything app,” that provides entertainment and even financial transactions along with its traditional short messages. The company saw widespread defections from advertisers since Musk took over and fired its content moderation team and brands became more concerned about their names appearing alongside hate speech and other negative posts.
YouTube, meanwhile, has sealed deals for live sports and embraced creator content to draw more viewers as consumers continue to cut their cable cords. YouTubeTV had 8 million subscribers at the end of 2023. Parent Alphabet is slated to update those figures when it reports its first-quarter results on Thursday.
X will also face competition for eyeballs from Spotify, which said earlier Tuesday that it is adding more video to its platform.
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