Title: How Twitter Makes Money: advertising and data licensing
Headings: How Twitter Makes Money
How Twitter Makes Money
Advertising and data licensing are the major sources of revenue
Key Takeaways
Twitter's Financials
Twitter's Business Segments
Advertising Services
Data Licensing and Other
Twitter's Recent Developments
How Twitter Reports Diversity & Inclusiveness

Content: 4 ﻿
Advertising Services
Advertising services generated $3.2 billion, or about 86%, of Twitter's revenue in 2020. The segment's revenue rose 7.1% compared to 2019. 4 ﻿ Twitter generates most of its advertising revenue by selling promoted products, including promoted tweets, promoted accounts, and promoted trends, to advertisers. The company creates tailored advertising opportunities by using an algorithm to make sure promoted products make it into the right users' timelines, "Who to Follow" lists, or at the top of the list of trending topics for an entire day in a particular country or globally. Advertisers also have the option of paying for in-stream video ads delivered to a targeted audience or sponsoring video content from publishing partners. While the majority of revenue from advertising services is generated through Twitter's owned and operated platform, a small portion of the advertising products Twitter sells are also placed on third-party publishers’ websites, applications, and other offerings. 7 ﻿
Data Licensing and Other
Nearly 14% of Twitter's revenue in 2020, or $509.0 million, was from data licensing and other sources. Revenue for the segment grew 9.2% compared to the previous year. 4 ﻿ Twitter also sells subscriptions to public data beyond its public API to companies and developers looking to "access, search and analyze historical and real-time data" on the platform. The "other sources" includes service fees Twitter collects from users of its mobile ad exchange, MoPub.