Several large brands have made their return to X, following a boycott in 2023, AdWeek reported.
Some of the biggest spenders in digital ad sales, including Comcast, IBM, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Lionsgate Entertainment, resumed spending on Elon Musk's social media platform in 2024, although at significantly smaller rates than previous years.
In November 2023, the brands ceased advertising on X after their ads appeared next to antisemitic content and other content that they deemed "hate speech."
Musk himself had also responded favorably to a post that said, "Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them." Musk later apologized.
Overall ad revue for X is down almost 30%, with the platform pulling in only $1.8 billion through the third quarter of this year compared to $2.5 billion though the same period last year.
MediaRadar, an advertising intelligence platform, noted that X has tried to fill the gap with "challenger brands" like Karma Shopping, Canles Shoes, and Kueez Entertainment, which have spent a combined $68 million on the platform in 2024.
"This suggests that X might move to a long-tail advertiser strategy," said Meghan Fraze, chief product officer of MediaRadar.
"This would benefit new brands that are looking for ways to connect with audiences without the intense competition. As X evolves, it could be forging an ad model that's less dependent on the usual suspects."
MediaRadar reported that Comcast spent $1.5 million on X this year, followed by Warner Bros. Discovery at $1.1 million, Disney at under $550,000, Lionsgate at less than $230,000, and IBM at less than $2,000.
"X's owner now has the ear of the president-elect, a man who has a long history of helping his friends and punishing his enemies," said Max Willens, senior analyst at Emarketer. "Sending at least a trickle of ad spending toward X may be seen as good for business, albeit in an indirect way."
X still has long way to go to show how its ad formats drive performance and prove it can be a trusted place to reach consumers. According to a report in Kantar in September, only 4% of marketers think X ads can provide "brand safety" — guarantees that their ads won't appear alongside extreme content — compared with 39% for Google ads.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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