Sinking Ship? X’s advertiser revenue has declined every month since Elon Musk took over

Since Elon Musk took over the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in October last year, the platform has lost ad revenue from the US consistently, month after month, culminating in a total of at least 55 per cent year-over-year, according to third-party data reported by Reuters. The company has been struggling with retaining advertisers as some have expressed caution due to the rapid changes that have occurred under Musk’s ownership.

In December 2022, U.S. ad revenue experienced the most significant decline, plummeting by 78 per cent compared to the same month the previous year, marking the steepest drop since Musk’s acquisition. This data comes from Guideline, an ad analytics firm that tracks advertising spending data from major ad agencies. The latest available data from Guideline, for August, reveals a 60 per cent year-over-year decline in ad revenue. X declined to comment on this data.

Elon Musk has publicly acknowledged the revenue challenges on the platform and has attributed some of the declines to activist pressures on advertisers. In a previous statement, Musk specifically mentioned the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a primary factor behind a 60 per cent decline in U.S. ad revenue, without specifying the timeframe.

Responding to Musk’s claims, the ADL released a statement refuting any allegations that they caused losses to X and expressed their intention to advertise on the platform to convey their anti-hate message to X users.

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X’s Chief Executive, Linda Yaccarino, noted in a recent interview that 1,500 brands had returned to the platform in the previous 12 weeks, with 90 per cent of the top 100 advertisers back on X. Yaccarino also expressed optimism that X could achieve profitability by early next year.

Elon Musk had rebranded Twitter as X in July as part of a broader strategy to transform the platform into an “everything app,” offering a range of services beyond social networking, similar to China’s WeChat. This transformation includes the development of peer-to-peer payment features and an increased focus on video content, as reported by Reuters.