After billionaire owner Elon Musk lashed out at some of the largest companies for quitting the platform, social networking giant X faced the threat of more advertisers bolting with no apparent solution in sight, ad industry analysts warned. Walt Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery halted advertising on X earlier this month after Musk endorsed an antisemitic article that erroneously claimed Jewish people were inciting hatred against white people.

Musk launched a profanity-laced diatribe against advertisers abandoning the platform after apologising for his tweet at a New York Times DealBook event on Wednesday, accusing the businesses of "blackmail."

He appeared to pick out Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, who had previously stated at the event that a relationship with X "was not a positive one for us."

"Companies need to protect the brands they work for," said Lou Paskalis, founder of marketing firm AJL Advisory and former head of worldwide media at bank of America. "This isn't advertisers getting together in a secret clubhouse to support an agenda."

The tesla CEO also admitted that a protracted boycott by advertisers may ruin X, previously Twitter, but said that the public would blame the brands, not him, if the company went bankrupt.

Insider Intelligence analyst jasmine Enberg, on the other hand, stated, "If anyone is killing X, it's Elon Musk - not advertisers."

"Should X collapse, an autopsy would reveal a series of platform policy decisions, staffing cuts, tweets and antagonistic comments by Musk that have driven away X's primary source of revenue," Enberg said in a statement.

According to an official at a big global ad-buying business who declined to be named, only one significant customer is still advertising on X.

"(Musk) appears hell-bent on destroying the platform," added the executive.

X fears losing not just corporate sponsors, but also money from political candidates, a revenue stream that was reopened after the platform overturned its restriction on political advertisements. According to AdImpact, which records political commercials, political ad expenditure in the united states is predicted to hit a record $10.2 billion in 2024, when a presidential election will be place.


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01/12/2023 05:40 AM