Twitter has acquired Scroll, a subscription service that removes ads from news sites that are part of the platform.
“Twitter is acquiring Scroll. Scroll has built a way to read articles without the ads, pop-ups, and other clutter that get in the way, cleaning up the reading experience and giving people what they want: just the content. Meanwhile, publishers who work with Scroll can bring in more revenue than they would from traditional ads on a page,” the social media major said in a blog post.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us to introduce this proven model to publishers on our service and make reading the news better for everyone involved. Looking ahead, Scroll will become a meaningful addition to our subscriptions work as we build and shape a future subscription service on Twitter,” it said.
The microblogging platform is planning to include Scroll as part of an upcoming subscription offering that it is currently exploring.
Twitter last year confirmed that it was exploring the idea of creating a paid subscription service that includes a range of new features that users may be willing for, as per a Business Insider report. It is also working on features such as Super Follows for creators or publishers.
The social media major had mentioned the feature at its Analyst Day event earlier this year. The feature works like an “account subscription” service and allows creators and publishers to charge other users for content such as exclusive tweets, special access to their direct messages or audio conversations, or a paid newsletter.
Earlier this year, the company acquired Revue, a service that helps users including writers and content publishers publish editorial newsletters.
“As a Twitter subscriber, picture getting access to premium features where you can easily read articles from your favourite news outlet or a writer’s newsletter from Revue, with a portion of your subscription going to the publishers and writers creating the content,” Twitter said in the blog post.
With the latest acquisition, Scroll will temporarily pause new sign-ups.
“Following the acquisition, we’ll be working to include their product into our subscription plans and prepare to grow Scroll’s publisher network. We’ll keep supporting the existing community of customers and publishers on Scroll, and new publishers interested in joining Scroll can sign up on their website for the latest updates,” it said.