A study carried out by BufferApp Team has provided one of the clearest looks yet at how X Premium subscriptions shape visibility on the platform. Over a four-week period, the company tested 1,000 posts shared from 20 accounts, evenly split between free users and paying subscribers.
Reach and engagement differences
The gap in visibility between the two groups was significant. On average, Premium accounts received more than twice the impressions of free accounts, with individual posts from subscribers regularly crossing 5,000 impressions, while free posts often remained closer to 2,000. Engagement showed a similar trend. Premium posts were 60 to 70 percent more likely to earn likes and roughly 40 percent more likely to be reposted.
Content format and link effect
The study[1] also examined how different types of content performed. Text-only posts and image posts consistently delivered the strongest results, while video posts also showed high engagement. In contrast, posts containing external links performed the weakest. Across both subscriber and non-subscriber groups, link posts reached only about one-third of the impressions generated by image or video updates, suggesting the algorithm gives native content a stronger push.
Role of subscription compared to follower count
Buffer found that subscriber status influenced reach more than audience size. Premium accounts with fewer than 1,000 followers often outperformed free accounts with several thousand followers. In raw terms, Premium posts averaged nearly 60 percent higher reach than free posts at similar follower levels. This points to subscription features such as reply prioritization as likely factors in distribution.
Limits of the subscription effect
While Premium membership improved the chances of a post spreading, the study also noted that quality and relevance still played an important part. Some Premium posts with little interaction remained low in reach, while well-crafted free posts occasionally gained above-average visibility. Buffer concluded that subscription raises the baseline but does not remove the importance of strong content.
Conclusion
The findings provide evidence that X Premium status brings measurable distribution advantages, supported by higher impression counts and stronger engagement rates. The results also confirm that native content is favored over link-sharing, and that follower count alone is a weaker predictor of reach than subscription status.
Read next: AI Search Keeps Picking YouTube Over Everyone Else[2]
References
- ^ The study (buffer.com)
- ^ AI Search Keeps Picking YouTube Over Everyone Else (www.digitalinformationworld.com)