When Elon Musk paid $44 billion to buy Twitter, he was, at that moment, paying for a respected and admired social network worldwide—a place where people informed themselves and debated about any topic. It was 2022 then. Now, in 2024, Twitter is called X, and it is the worst social network to be on.
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Subscribe (it's FREE) ►Since his arrival, Elon Musk has not ceased in his determination to destroy the app from within (with very controversial decisions), while proclaiming to the four winds that advertisers should stay, he even threatens to sue them if they leave.
If 2024 has been a terrifying year in terms of revenue for Twitter, it seems that 2025 will be no better. A new report from the British market research company Kantar reveals that 26% of advertisers plan to reduce their advertising investment on Musk’s platform next year.
According to Kantar’s research, this is the “biggest decline ever recorded” on any of the major global advertising platforms. Undoubtedly, Elon Musk has made an effort to achieve this goal.
“Advertisers have been withdrawing their advertising investment from X for several years,” says Gonca Bubani, Director of Global Thought Leadership at Kantary. “The marked acceleration of this trend in the last 12 months means that a change in direction currently seems unlikely.”
X is likely to lose even more advertisers soon
According to Kantar, advertisers’ trust in advertising on X was already “historically low” before Musk. Since the acquisition, however, that trust has further eroded.
According to the market research company, advertisers’ confidence in Twitter was 22% in 2022. Now known as X, confidence in the same platform is 12% in 2024.
According to the Kantar report, only 4% of advertisers believe advertising on X provides brand safety. When compared to its competitors in the social media space, X ranks at the bottom.
According to Kantar, Google ranks first in brand safety, with 39%. In terms of trust and innovative advertising, X “scores outside the global top ten.” TikTok is considered the most innovative, and YouTube has topped the trust barometer.
The chart included in Kantar’s report, which provides images of those statistics, makes the contrast between X and other social media platforms in this space even more evident.
It is unlikely that X will change course under Musk’s leadership. This week, Elon Musk was criticized for promoting a video of Tucker Carlson on X with a guest who sympathized with Hitler. “Very interesting. Worth watching,” Musk said.
