Twitter’s annual revenue is expected to fall by almost a third this year, according to forecasts published Tuesday by a consultancy, due to the break between the brands and Elon Musk, who has owned the platform since late October.
The San Francisco company, which generates most of its revenue from advertising, is expected to earn less than $3 billion in 2023, compared with $4.14 billion in 2022, or 28% less, according to Insider Intelligence.
“Twitter needs to separate the perception of Musk and his personal brand from that of the company to win back their trust and keep them coming back,” he adds.
In the summer of 2022, after the proposal to take control of the social network by the head of Tesla, and the first turns, Insider Intelligence had already revised downward its forecasts for 2023, to 4,740 million.
Misinformation and “fake” blue badges
Then, the experts were still counting on the growth of the blue bird platform. But since then, the economic environment has deteriorated and many predictions about the flight of advertisers have come true.
Elon Musk has relaxed content moderation, essential to create an environment considered “safe” by brands, who do not want to be associated with so-called “toxic” content.
The boss fired hard, reducing the group’s headcount from 7,500 to fewer than 2,000 employees. And he left behind many users who had been banned for hate mail or misinformation.
According to Pathmatics, by January half of Twitter’s top 30 advertisers had stopped buying ad space there since the takeover in late October. Brands are reluctant to spend on a platform “where chaos, arbitrary change and uncertainty reign,” says Jasmine Enberg.
She doesn’t think the new “Twitter Blue” subscription will make up for the lost revenue.
“It represents having influence on a platform whose cultural relevance is deteriorating and I support Musk. People and organizations that had been previously authenticated have no reason to pay, and many users don’t want to show up to support Musk.” The billionaire will speak at a conference for marketing professionals in Miami on April 18.
Source: BFM TV
