Twitter is abandoning Ticketed Spaces to focus on other live audio features

Twitter no longer allows you to charge users to listen to live conversations in Spaces. A social media heavyweight tells The information in statement that it has indefinitely paused its test of ticket spaces. The move will allow Twitter to focus on improving the “core Spaces experience,” the company said. It’s unclear how many eligible hosts have used the service.

The company began public testing of Ticketed Spaces in August of last year, three months after introducing the feature. In effect, it was a way for creators to put audio chats behind a paywall. An industry figure can give a TED-style talk from home, while a star can hold discussions with their most loyal fans. It should be noted that Twitter’s profit potential was relatively low — it would only take a 3 percent cut of revenue below $50,000 and only require a 20 percent cut above that. Although this fee includes payments to Apple and Google, it still means that the hosts will take the majority of the revenue.

That’s not to say Twitter is avoiding Spaces altogether. The company is experimenting with support for live chats in communities and is working on projects like topic stations and daily digests. However, the end of Ticketed Spaces comes as social audio pioneer Clubhouse (the inspiration for Spaces) rethinks its strategy and cuts staff. The live voice chat field just isn’t as hot as it was during the early pandemic, and that can make it harder to attract paying users.

What happens next is unclear. While the termination of Ticketed Spaces is unrelated to Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the future leader has promised sweeping changes at the company as he tries to turn it into a “town square” while boosting the bottom line. We wouldn’t expect paid chats to make a comeback, but they’re not necessarily dead.