1 in 4 Advertisers Plan to Cut Ad Spending on Musk's X

Concerns Over Brand Damage from Extreme Content

After being acquired by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, X (formerly Twitter), which has been embroiled in various controversies, is expected to see an accelerated movement of advertisers withdrawing.

On the 5th (local time), according to CNN, Kantar, a UK-based market research firm, released the results of a survey conducted on about 1,000 marketing professionals from companies, advertising agencies, and media outlets across 27 countries worldwide regarding their preferred advertising platforms.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

The survey results showed that 26% of all marketing professionals plan to reduce their advertising spending on X next year. Kantar explained that this is an unprecedentedly low figure for any major global advertising platform worldwide.

The reason companies do not prefer X lies in the extreme content on the platform. Only 4% of marketing professionals believed that advertising on X provides "brand safety." Brand safety means ensuring that extremist content and advertisements are not placed together in a way that negatively affects a company's image. In contrast, 39% of respondents evaluated advertising through Google as having no issues regarding brand safety, Kantar added.

In this survey, the most preferred advertising platform among marketing professionals was YouTube. It was followed by Instagram, Google, Netflix, and Spotify in order of preference, CNN reported.

Unlike companies, consumer preference for advertising on X has actually increased significantly. Kantar analyzed that this might be due to the reduced amount of advertising exposure consumers receive as advertisers withdraw.

Goncha Bubani, Global Thought Leadership Director at Kantar, said, "X has changed a lot in recent years and has become unpredictable even day-to-day. In such an environment, it is difficult to have confidence in brand safety." He explained, "Advertisers have been shifting their advertising spending from X to other platforms for several years, and currently, the likelihood of a reversal seems low."

Musk, who has emphasized freedom of expression and opposed all censorship, acquired X in 2022. Since then, controversies have arisen over a surge in problematic content such as hate speech on X, and as Musk himself appeared to endorse anti-Semitic posts on X, the movement of advertisers withdrawing has intensified. Musk showed efforts to "appease advertisers" by holding a public dialogue with Mark Read, CEO of advertising company WPP, at the international advertising festival held in Cannes, France, in June, and earlier last month, he filed lawsuits against the World Federation of Advertisers and others, accusing them of illegally boycotting X.