“X is becoming a video-first platform,” says CEO Linda Iaccarino

X (formerly known as Twitter) revealed its overall annual growth in video consumption and time spent watching videos, claiming that the social media platform is showing a strong video-centric content consumption behavior. The company’s CEO, Linda Iaccarino, also acknowledges the platform’s rise in the video domain. Notably, X owner Elon Musk has emphasized the importance of becoming video-first and has rolled out several new video-centric features since taking over the company. Last month, X introduced audio and video calling features for all users.

The information was shared by X Data, the platform’s official data sharing account. According to post, the social media giant grew 35 percent year over year in terms of video views. This shows that total video views on the platform have grown by more than a third since the previous financial year. In addition, the publication also adds that the total time spent on videos increased by 17 percent year-over-year.

The account also claims that four out of five user sessions now include watching at least one video. Executive Director Yaccarino re-shared the post and said, “X is becoming the number one platform for video.” The growth in video consumption comes amid Musk’s ambitions to create a video-centric platform. Since he took control of the social media giant, the platform has rolled out multiple video features for users.

In May 2023, Musk announced that X Premium subscribers will be able to upload two-hour videos, allowing premium users to add videos up to 8GB in size. In August, the social media platform rolled out support for live video, comparing its capabilities with competitors such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. That same month, Musk allowed verified users to download videos if the content creator has enabled the option. Additionally, the billionaire has also worked on improving the video recommendation algorithm and added an infinite scrolling feature when watching videos on the Android or iOS app.

However, videos are not the only area where the platform is adding new features. According to a report, the company’s developers are working on bringing password support to the Android app after introducing it to the iOS app earlier this year. This will allow users to bypass password restrictions and rely on biometric logins and similar methods to protect their accounts.