Musk's Worries: Most Top Advertisers Have Withdrawn from X Platform

Advertisers have stopped and started charging users. How can X solve its financial difficulties?

According to the latest data from marketing consulting firm Ebiquity, after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, the majority of generous advertisers worldwide have stopped advertising on X.

Among the top 100 advertisers in the world, 70 of them are partners of Ebiquity, and only 2 of them advertised on X last month.

Although Ebiquity did not disclose which advertisers they are, based on the latest financial documents, Ebiquity's clients include Google, Walmart, Vodafone (the world's second-largest mobile communications company), and General Motors. Analyzing the media placement data of these clients leads to the conclusion mentioned above.

Ruben Schreurs, Chief Strategy Officer of Ebiquity, said:

"For any major advertising platform, this is a decline we have never seen before."

However, X's perspective is completely different. In April of this year, Musk stated that "almost all" advertising clients have already returned or will return. X CEO Linda Yaccarino stated in an interview last month: "In the past 12 weeks alone, 90% of the top 100 advertisers have returned to X."

Although X clarified that this "90%" refers to the "90%" of the top 100 advertisers from the previous year, Schreurs stated that Ebiquity's analysis has raised "serious concerns about the credibility of Musk and Yaccarino's public statements."

In fact, over the past year, many advertisers have stopped or significantly reduced their spending on X due to concerns about the reliability and effectiveness of the content hosted on the platform. In July of this year, Musk announced that Twitter would be renamed "X," effectively erasing 17 years of brand assets, further intensifying concerns.

Another analysis by advertising analytics company Guideline found that since Musk took over in April 2022, X's advertising revenue in the United States has declined by 55% or more each month.

On the 18th, X announced that in order to reduce spam tweets and bot accounts, it plans to charge new users $1 per year, allowing them to view but not interact if they do not pay.

Last Friday, Musk also stated that two X platform membership fee packages will be launched: "One package has a lower cost, including all functions but without reduced advertising, and the other package is more expensive but without advertising."