Following advertiser exodus, Elon Musk wants you to believe X is a video-first platform now

In a bid to revive its fortunes after a series of setbacks, Elon Musk’s X, formerly a platform for short text-based messages, announced a strategic shift, declaring itself a “video-first platform.” The company made this assertion in a blog post aimed at advertisers, highlighting recent developments and plans for the future. X emphasised its transformation with the introduction of a new video feature, resembling TikTok’s full-screen, infinite scroll, and boasting over 100 million daily users. The blog post claimed that more than half of these users belong to Generation Z, a demographic that is rapidly growing on the platform. However, the post lacked specific metrics to substantiate these claims. The move to prioritise video comes in the wake of a significant exodus of advertisers, including prominent names like Disney, IBM, and Apple, following Musk’s controversial statement about an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. The fallout, coupled with other missteps, has led to a substantial decline in X’s business value, plummeting over 70 per cent from its $44 billion sales price last year, according to Fidelity, one of X’s investors. Despite the company’s assertion of being a “video-first platform,” scepticism remains among some insiders. An anonymous source from X expressed reservations, stating, “I think it’s way too early to declare us a video-first platform.” Elon Musk has been actively courting creators to X, offering to share ad revenue generated by their videos. The blog post claimed that X has already paid over 80,000 creators in less than a year. However, concerns have been raised about the varying sizes of these payments, with some users expressing dissatisfaction. Addressing advertising improvements, X stated in the blog post that it has enhanced ad relevance, resulting in a 22 per cent increase in total ad engagements. Despite this claim, users have reported a prevalence of low-quality ads from marketers promoting counterfeit luxury goods and fake Keto Drops endorsed by Shark Tank. Looking ahead to 2024, X outlined plans to focus on leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance the user and advertising experience. The platform aims to introduce peer-to-peer payments and refine post relevance for users. The blog post concluded with an optimistic outlook, inviting users and advertisers to join an “exciting journey into the future of X.” (with inputs from agencies)