X is tweaking how it charges for ads and bigger visuals will soon come with a bigger price tag.
After recently announcing a ban on hashtags in Promoted Posts to keep the feed looking “clean,” X’s owner Elon Musk confirmed another update: the platform will start charging advertisers based on the vertical size of their visuals.
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In Elon’s words: “X is moving to charging for ads based on vertical size, so an ad that takes up the whole screen would cost more than an ad that takes up 1/4 of the screen, otherwise the incentive is to create giant ads that impair the user experience.”
Right now, advertisers can attach long videos or large images to dominate the screen, making their promotions more eye-catching, but that can also clutter the feed.
As shown in recent examples, X ads can vary wildly in size, and Community Notes or extra text can stretch them out even further. There are some guardrails, like text cut-offs after 180 characters, but the new pricing model aims to discourage oversized ads that “impair the user experience,” at least according to Musk.
So, is this an aesthetic decision or just a new way to drive revenue? Probably both. Charging for ad real estate makes sense (other platforms do it too), but it’s still unclear how much more brands will have to shell out for large visuals, or how this might impact campaign ROI.
The update isn’t live yet and X’s official ad pricing overview hasn’t been updated. But it’s one more change for advertisers to watch as the platform’s ad model continues to evolve.
