The monthly US advertising revenue at Short message service X (formerly Twitter) have been around since the billionaire took over the company Elon Musk (52) fell significantly in October 2022. Revenues have fallen by at least 55 percent every month compared to the previous year, according to data from Guideline, a company that specializes in advertising analysis.
In December 2022, advertising revenue even fell by 78 percent compared to the same month last year. This is the strongest monthly decline since the takeover. In August, the latest data available from Guideline, they were down 60 percent year-over-year.
X declined to comment on the data. Musk recently came under pressure because of his increasing political statements on X. Critics accuse the billionaire and Teslaboss, who has more than 158 million followers, plans to support right-wing radical positions.
Massive uncertainty among advertising customers
Criticism also recently came from the digital association Bitkom: “The increase in fake news, the increase in hate speech or the expression of sometimes extreme political attitudes have apparently led to massive uncertainty among many companies,” explained Bernhard Rohlede, general manager of the association, according to a report the “FAZ”
.
Musk had previously admitted that the platform had suffered a loss in sales. At the same time, he accused activists of putting pressure on advertisers. Last month, he blamed the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) primarily for the 60 percent decline in US advertising revenue – although he did not give a time frame.
In a statement on Wednesday, ADL strongly denied the allegations. All claims are false. The organization added that it was willing to promote itself on the platform “to convey our important message about combating hate to X and its users.”
The CEO Linda Yaccarino (59), who has been in office since June, paints a different picture at a conference. The manager explained that 1,500 advertising customers had returned to X in the past three months alone. 90 percent of the top 100 advertisers would place ads again. Yaccarino also expects the platform to be profitable again next year.