How Much Does Twitter Pay for 1 Million Views in 2026?

If a tweet explodes to 1,000,000 views, how much money does the creator actually earn from Twitter? The answer may surprise e-commerce brands, Amazon sellers, and content creators. How much does Twitter pay for 1 million views is a critical question for anyone considering Twitter (now rebranded as X) as a monetization channel. Spoiler: Twitter’s payout per view is extremely low – only a few dollars – compared to platforms like YouTube. In this article, we’ll break down Twitter’s creator payment model in 2025–2026, why the earnings per view are so minimal, and what that means for micro influencers and brands leveraging influencer marketing and UGC. You’ll also learn alternative ways creators monetize their Twitter presence and how brands can benefit from these collaborations.

What Is Twitter’s Ad Revenue Sharing Program?

Twitter’s primary method of paying creators is its Ad Revenue Sharing program (also called Creator Revenue Sharing). Unlike YouTube which automatically shares ad revenue on videos, Twitter’s program requires creators to opt-in and meet specific criteria. Under this system, eligible creators earn a portion of the advertising revenue from ads displayed in the replies to their tweets. In other words, when there are ads shown in the thread of replies under a creator’s tweet, Twitter shares some of that ad money with the creator.

Eligibility Requirements: Not everyone can start earning from tweet views. Twitter (X) has set a high bar for creators to qualify:

• • Subscription to X Premium: You must be a paying subscriber (previously Twitter Blue) or a verified organization. This costs about $8 per month for individuals.

     

  • High Recent Impressions: You need a minimum of 5 million organic impressions on your tweets within the last 3 months. That averages out to over 1.6 million views per month, a threshold many micro influencers struggle to reach.

     

  • Follower Count: You must have at least 500 followers (and they must be “verified” followers, meaning they themselves are confirmed/paid accounts).

     

  • Compliance and Region: You must adhere to Twitter’s content guidelines and be in a country supported by Stripe for payouts. (The program is available in many countries, including the US, UK, Canada, etc., as of 2025.)

If you meet these requirements, you can apply in your Twitter account’s monetization settings. Upon approval, Twitter will start sharing ad revenue from your qualifying tweet impressions. Payouts are currently issued biweekly via Stripe once you’ve earned over a minimum threshold (about $30).

How It Works: Twitter calculates earnings based on impressions, which are views of your tweets. However, not all impressions are equal. The platform gives more weight to views from verified users and possibly users with Premium subscriptions, and it only counts impressions where ads are actually served. Essentially, Twitter’s monetization focuses on quality of engagement: tweets that spark conversations (and thus have reply threads where ads can appear) tend to earn more. This is a unique approach – Twitter is incentivizing discussion and replies, whereas platforms like YouTube or TikTok monetize each view more directly with pre-roll or mid-roll ads.

Historically, Twitter offered no direct payout for content views at all – no matter how viral a tweet got, the platform itself didn’t pay the creator. This changed in mid-2023 when Elon Musk’s team rolled out the ad revenue sharing program. Still, the earnings per view remain very small, as we’ll detail next.

How Much Does Twitter Pay for 1 Million Views in 2025–2026?

In plain terms, 1,000,000 tweet impressions might earn under $10 for the creator. Multiple sources confirm this ballpark figure. For example, early participants in Twitter’s program found their effective rate was around $8.5 per million views. Influencer industry analysts likewise estimate $8–$9 per 1M impressions on Twitter in typical cases. This is a tiny payout – effectively $0.0000085 per view – meaning a single view is worth far less than a penny.

Why so low? One reason is that Twitter only monetizes a fraction of those impressions with ads (primarily in reply threads). Also, the ads that do appear on Twitter carry lower ad rates compared to, say, YouTube video ads. Twitter’s text-based feed and reply threads just don’t generate the high advertising CPMs that video platforms do. As a result, the creator’s share of revenue per impression is minuscule. In fact, a Twitter/X post needs to generate at least 5 million impressions (over 3 months) just for a creator to collect the first ~$40 payout.

To put this in perspective, 1 million views on YouTube can earn a creator anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 on average (and even more in lucrative niches). On TikTok, 1 million views might net creators tens or hundreds of dollars (though TikTok’s Creator Fund also infamously pays very little per view). Compared to these, Twitter’s ~$8 for 1M views is extremely low. Even Facebook and Instagram, via their bonus programs or ad revenue on videos, have historically offered creators higher potential earnings per view than Twitter. The bottom line is that Twitter’s monetization won’t make anyone rich from views alone – even a viral 1-million view tweet only yields coffee money in revenue.

Factors That Influence Twitter Payouts

While $8 for 1 million views is a rough average, the actual payout can vary based on several factors:

• • Audience Location: Impressions from high-value markets (like the U.S., Canada, UK, Western Europe) tend to earn more. Advertisers pay higher rates to reach these audiences, so if most of your tweet’s viewers are in premium ad markets, your effective CPM rises. A million views heavily from the U.S. could pay more than a million views from elsewhere.

     

  • Engagement and Ad Density: Tweets that generate lots of replies and engagement can serve more ads in those reply threads, raising your earnings. For example, a tweet that goes viral with conversation may trigger additional ad impressions in the comments. Higher engagement (likes, retweets, replies) correlates with slightly better revenue because it likely means people spent more time with the content and saw more ads. Conversely, a passive million impressions (e.g. people just scrolling by) may monetize poorly.

     

  • Content Type: As of 2025, most of the shared revenue comes from timeline and reply thread ads (mostly text/image ads). Twitter has hinted at video content being more valuable, and some creators suspect tweets with video (which could show pre-roll ads via the Amplify program) might earn more. Indeed, anecdotal reports suggest video content and highly engaged threads earn on the higher end of the range, while simple text tweets earn on the low end.

     

  • Verified vs. Unverified Viewers: Twitter gives extra weight to impressions from verified users (Twitter Blue subscribers) in its payout formula. This means if your tweet is mostly seen by verified accounts, you might earn more than if it’s seen by a general audience. The exact multiplier isn’t transparent, but it’s part of Twitter’s push to reward content that keeps their paying users engaged.

     

  • Ad Market Fluctuations: Twitter’s ad revenue share is not a fixed rate – it depends on advertising spend. If advertisers invest more (e.g. around holiday seasons or big events), the pie is bigger and creators might see higher payouts per impression. If ad spend on the platform is down, payouts shrink. Since Twitter’s overall ad business has seen ups and downs, creators might notice their “$ per view” shifting over time without any change in their content.

Considering all these factors, the range for 1 million views can sometimes stretch above or below that ~$8 mark. Some creators with a predominantly U.S. audience and viral engagement have reported earning a bit more – for instance, there are reports of a highly engaged tweet yielding upwards of a few hundred dollars for around a million impressions under ideal conditions. Those cases are outliers, and most creators will not see such high returns. On the flip side, if a tweet’s views are mostly from low-ad-value regions or it didn’t prompt any replies (so no ads in thread), the earnings could be closer to zero. But generally, a few dollars per million views is the norm for Twitter.

Why Twitter’s Creator Payment Is So Low (vs. Other Platforms)

From a brand or creator perspective, it’s natural to wonder why Twitter pays so little per view. A key reason is Twitter’s monetization model. Unlike YouTube which runs ads before/during each video view (sharing ~55% of that with creators), Twitter’s feed doesn’t insert monetized ads into every tweet view. Instead, Twitter primarily monetizes via Promoted Tweets and reply-thread ads, which appear only occasionally as users scroll or interact. There is no pre-roll ad every time someone views a tweet.

Twitter’s focus on short-form text and rapid scrolling means the advertising value per impression is inherently lower. Advertisers pay Twitter less for 1,000 impressions on tweets than they pay YouTube for 1,000 video views, because a tweet impression is a fleeting glance in a feed, whereas a video view often involves a user’s extended attention (and an audible/visual ad). Twitter’s own average rates reflect this: internal data suggested Twitter’s ads might yield on the order of $0.0085 per 1,000 views (that’s the $8.5 per million figure), whereas YouTube ads might yield a creator $3–$10 per 1,000 views depending on niche.

Another factor is that Twitter historically did not share any ad revenue with users at all. Its platform was not built with creator payouts in mind, and it’s only now (under “X”) retrofitting some revenue share. In the meantime, a huge ecosystem of influencer marketing grew outside of Twitter’s direct payments: brands would pay Twitter users (especially influencers and micro influencers) for sponsored tweets or promotions, since Twitter itself wasn’t paying them. This means Twitter hasn’t cultivated a strong expectation of platform income among creators, unlike YouTube where creators join expecting to earn from views. Twitter’s management can get away with lower payouts because any new revenue is seen as a bonus by creators who for years earned nothing from the platform directly.

For e-commerce brands and Amazon sellers, this dynamic is interesting. It implies that a Twitter influencer with 1 million views isn’t making much money from Twitter itself, so they are likely very open to brand deals, sponsorships, or affiliate partnerships to monetize their following. In contrast, a YouTuber with 1 million views might already be earning comfortable ad revenue and be choosier with brand deals. On Twitter, the value of an influencer post to the creator is mostly what a brand is willing to pay, not what Twitter pays. This gives brands and sellers an opportunity to partner with creators at relatively reasonable rates to create buzz, knowing the platform’s payouts alone won’t sustain those creators.

How Micro Influencers Monetize on Twitter (Beyond Views)

Given that Twitter’s own payouts are so low, how do creators – especially micro influencers – make money on the platform? The short answer is: through other monetization methods and off-platform strategies. Micro influencers (typically those with a few thousand to tens of thousands of followers) usually don’t even meet the 5M view eligibility for Twitter’s ad program. Instead, they monetize via a mix of creative approaches:

1. 1. Sponsored Tweets and Brand Partnerships: Many Twitter creators earn by working with brands in influencer marketing campaigns. For example, an e-commerce brand or Amazon seller might pay a micro influencer to tweet about their product or share a promotion. The creator negotiates a flat fee or free product in exchange for exposure to their audience. These sponsored tweets can far outweigh Twitter’s ad-share payouts – a brand might pay $100 for a tweet that gets 50k views, whereas Twitter’s program would pay the creator virtually $0 for those 50k views. For the brand, it’s still a cost-effective way to get authentic promotion. (In practice, micro influencers often form partnerships through agencies or platforms. For instance, Stack Influence connects e-commerce brands with micro influencers at scale, helping brands drive word-of-mouth and UGC content while ensuring the creators are compensated, since they can’t rely on Twitter’s pennies-per-view.)

       

   2. Affiliate Marketing and Sales: Content creators on Twitter often use affiliate links or referral codes to earn commissions. A micro influencer might share a link to an Amazon product (using Amazon Associates, for example) and earn a percentage of any sales from that traffic. If they have an audience interested in e-commerce deals or niche products, this can be a steady income stream. It’s a form of UGC (user-generated content) monetization where the creator’s content drives sales for a brand, and the creator gets a cut. For Amazon sellers, having a network of affiliates tweeting about your product can boost both sales and organic visibility.

       

   3. Direct User Support (Tips & Subscriptions): Twitter offers tipping (users can send money to support a creator) and a Subscriptions feature (formerly “Super Follows”) where followers pay a monthly fee for exclusive content. While these features don’t pay per view, they are ways for influencers to monetize their content and engagement. A micro influencer might not have millions of views, but if they have 100 true fans willing to pay $3-$5 a month for extra content, that’s meaningful income. Twitter’s cut on subscriptions is small (creators keep ~97% up to $50k earnings), so this can be viable for those with a loyal niche following.

       

   4. Content Creation Gigs (UGC for Brands): A growing trend is creators being paid to produce user-generated content for brands’ own use. For example, a skincare brand might pay a content creator to film an unboxing or write a witty tweet about their product, not necessarily to post on the creator’s account but for the brand to use in ads or social media. These UGC creators essentially freelance for brands. Twitter is often where creators build their personal brand or showcase their voice, but the real money might come from a brand hiring them to create content. For micro influencers who have a distinctive style or expertise (say a micro influencer in fitness or tech), brands might contract them to craft some tweets or short videos endorsing a product, which the brand then uses in marketing. This is an alternative path where the platform (Twitter) is just the portfolio or communication channel, while the payment happens off-platform.

       

   5. Multi-Platform Strategy: Many savvy micro influencers don’t treat Twitter in isolation. They use it to grow an audience and then funnel fans to other monetized channels – like a YouTube channel, a newsletter, a Patreon, or an online store. For instance, a Twitter tech commentator might go viral on Twitter but then direct followers to their monetized YouTube videos or to sign up for a paid newsletter. In this way, Twitter’s low direct pay doesn’t matter; it’s a traffic source and community builder, and the monetization happens elsewhere. E-commerce entrepreneurs and Amazon sellers can tap into this by collaborating with influencers who have a presence across platforms, thereby getting exposure not only on Twitter but possibly through the influencer’s blog, YouTube, or Instagram where their audience might convert better.

In summary, micro influencers rely on creativity and diversification to earn money, rather than on Twitter’s meager view payments. For brands, this means when you work with micro influencers, you’re often their main source of compensation for that content – which can make them very motivated partners. A micro influencer campaign can generate authentic buzz (tweets, reviews, UGC) without breaking the bank, and the influencer is happy to collaborate because it’s far more lucrative than waiting for Twitter to pay them $5 here or $10 there. It’s a classic win-win in influencer marketing: the brand gets word-of-mouth promotion, and the creator gets paid in a way Twitter itself would never pay them at their size.

Conclusion to How Much Does Twitter Pay for 1 Million Views

How much does Twitter pay for 1 million views? In 2025 and into 2026, the answer is only about $8–$10 on average. For creators, especially micro influencers, this means Twitter’s built-in monetization is not a reliable income stream by itself. For e-commerce brands and Amazon sellers, it’s important to recognize that creators on Twitter (X) aren’t earning significant money from their viral posts – which is exactly why influencer marketing collaborations and UGC campaigns are so valuable. Creators will gladly partner with brands to monetize their content and influence, since the platform’s pay per view is negligible.

From a brand’s perspective, you can leverage Twitter for exposure without relying on the platform’s ads alone. By engaging micro influencers or content creators to talk about your product, you generate genuine buzz and reviews (tweets, videos, etc.) that resonate as authentic user-generated content. Meanwhile, you’re providing those creators with meaningful compensation they wouldn’t get from Twitter otherwise. Stack Influence and similar platforms make these connections easy – ensuring that brands get high-quality UGC and influencers get paid fairly for their creativity.

In the end, Twitter’s low payments per million views reinforce a key point: real ROI comes from building relationships – between brands, influencers, and audiences. Whether you’re a creator figuring out how to earn a living, or an Amazon seller trying to boost your product’s visibility, the most successful strategy on Twitter is collaboration. Use the platform to spark conversations and community, but look beyond the platform (to sponsorships, affiliate sales, and cross-platform content) for revenue. If you do that, those 1,000,000 views can be worth far more than $8 – they can translate into sales, brand growth, and long-term loyal customers.

Ready to turn Twitter buzz into business results? Focus on meaningful engagement and partner up: when micro influencers, content creators, and e-commerce brands work together, everyone wins – and the value created goes well beyond what any platform alone will ever pay.