A setback expected by several specialists. According to data transmitted to Insider by the marketing consultancy Ebiquity, an overwhelming majority of the world’s largest advertisers ceased their activity on X (formerly Twitter) after the acquisition of the social network by Elon Musk, just a year ago.
Advertisers with absent subscribers
In total, only two of the platform’s clients purchased ad space on X last month, according to Ebiquity. By comparison, in September 2022, the number of brands collaborating with Twitter was 31, before gradually decreasing in the following months. “This is a drop we’ve never seen before on any major advertising platform,” Ruben Schreurs, chief strategy officer at Ebiquity, told Insider.
If Ebiquity has not revealed the identity of the advertisers, we can already specify that the firm’s clients include Google, Walmart, Vodafone and General Motors. According to media research firm COMvergence, Ebiquity works with 70 of the 100 largest advertisers in the market.
With the numbers to back it up, Ebiquity directly contradicts recent statements from CEO Linda Yaccarino of just weeks. The latter cited Visa, Nissan and AT&T among the “1,500” brands that would have resumed their advertising investment in X.
Elon Musk confirms the return of his advertisers
In the process, a spokesperson for X clarified that this 90% figure corresponds to the 100 largest advertisers in terms of advertising investment on The latter did not want to comment on the analysis carried out by Ebiquity. According to Sensor Tower data transmitted by Bloomberg, the advertisers that spend the most on the platform would be Amazon, Unilever, Coca-Cola and even IBM.
Same story with Elon Musk, who explained in April that “almost all” of his advertisers had returned or had stated they would. And at the same time, the latter specified last month that the advertising revenue obtained by X fell by 60% in the United States alone, without giving more details.
“The latter’s recent statements by leaders expressed “serious concerns about the reliability of Musk and Yaccarino’s public statements.”
Twitter lost half of its advertising revenue
Since his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, Elon Musk has made a series of decisions with mixed reception from advertisers and users. Last May, Insider Intelligence claimed that Twitter was on track to earn less than $3 billion in 2023, nearly a third less than in 2022.
At the beginning of July, Elon Musk’s expressed intention to restrict the reading of tweets to 10,000 per day for verified accounts, 1,000 for others and even 500 for new accounts, also caused outrage among users. A few days later, X announced that the TweetDeck app would only be reserved for certified and therefore paid accounts.
Gradually, advertisers also expressed doubts about the reliability of X’s advertising platform. According to Guideline, X’s advertising revenue in the United States has fallen by at least 55% each month since its acquisition.
Source: BFM TV
