8 ms·

Twitter's top advertisers have pulled out of the platform

45 points by mhoad 4y ago

lupire 4y ago
Actual headline: 50 of Twitter's top 100 advertisers have pulled out of the platform since Elon Musk took over, report says Half of Twitter's top 100 advertisers have stopped promoting on the platform, per Media Matters. Since 2020, those 50 companies have spent $2 billion on Twitter advertising. ---- So that's ~$300M drop in annual spend.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- AzzieElbab 4y ago
  Still pretty good damage largely done by media matters themselves. They are a doxing org that petitioned to advertisers to drop twitter. Impressive.
Proven 4y ago
memish 4y ago
These companies aren't making independent decisions on this. Here is how the system works. > A large coalition of political/social activist groups agreed not to try to kill Twitter by starving us of advertising revenue if I agreed to this condition. They broke the deal. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1595196519598080000 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1595196519598080000 This group of activists have a lot of power to enforce their agenda wrapped in a cloak of "safety standards", which is defined however they want. They pressure companies to fall in line. > Jessica González, co-CEO of Free Press, said the meeting with Musk “seemed productive” but she is not “encouraged enough” to pull back on the campaign that civil rights groups launched asking advertisers to suspend their ads on Twitter if Musk doesn’t commit to enforcing safety standards. > “I think we need to keep the pressure on and make sure that his actions meet his words,” González told The Hill. > Musk met with the groups after Free Press and Media Matters led nearly 50 civil society groups in a letter Tuesday calling for Twitter’s top 20 advertisers to pull their ads if he didn’t enforce safety standards. Advertising giant IPG later reportedly issued a recommendation to its clients, which include Johnson and Johnson, Coca Cola and American Express, to pause paid advertising on Twitter. https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3717711-civil-rights-groups-call-for-further-action-after-meeting-with-musk/ https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3717711-civil-rights-g... Elon was initially playing ball with them, as most companies do because they are afraid of the consequences. He announced the council, they weren't satisfied, and he said screw it, I'll deal with the consequences.
- rurp 4y ago
  Poor Elon, always the victim :( If Elon and his fans can't see why advertisers would be concerned about his actions Twitter really is toast as a sustainable business.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - tinalumfoil 4y ago
    - spaced-out 4y ago
      > A powerful unaccountable shadow organization that threatens social media networks to control speech and political conversations online should concern more than just Musk. WTF is a "shadow organization", can you please define that term you used? Really, it just sounds like you have a problem with free speech and/or free association. If a group of people want to form an organization called Free Press (https://www.freepress.net/ https://www.freepress.net/) and advocate for things they think are important, that's part of being in a free country.
      - tinalumfoil 4y ago
        free association != dark money organizations influencing politics They have a slick landing page, but there's nothing there about their efforts to influence advertisers and social media, and less so about who's paying them to do that stuff.
        spaced-out 4y ago
        I'm all for more transparency around money in politics, but unfortunately there's one political party that has consistently blocked efforts address this issue. What do you mean by "efforts to influence"? You mean calling people like Elon Musk on the phone and asking them to do stuff? Or like sending emails to people on their mailing list asking them to boycott something?
SilverBirch 4y ago
Once again I think this is going to be a matter of the left wing going "Well, I mean... that's what you get in capitalism when you turn your product into a tool to humiliate your own advertisers". And the right wing going "Oh my god these left wing social activists like... American Express, and these left wing reporters like... Associated Press are attacking Elon because he supports freedom!". I guess it's up for each of us individually to make a judgement about which side is right.
codekansas 4y ago
I find it strange that stopping advertising on some particular platform is a "big deal". It feels like it might have been so when ads were run in newspapers and on TV, but regularly adjusting your advertising strategy to be able to check its efficacy seems like common sense in today's internet advertising world. Given that the script for these companies is basically interchangeable among whichever internet platform, it probably takes a couple hours to spin up or spin down an ad campaign. Can't help but think that smart actors just use these events as cover / PR for evaluating their ad efficacy.
ivraatiems 4y ago
It's certainly in Elon Musk's interest to cast this as the actions of a cabal of politically-motivated figures. I think the reality is that if you look at Twitter as a platform under his 'leadership'... well, who'd want to advertise on it now? Musk is doing everything he can to drive away big corporations who enjoy reliability. He's summarily fired >66% of the workforce. He's implemented seemingly random policy changes, none of which have worked, many of which resulted in immediate obvious damage to the brand image of said advertisers. None of the things he has promised to do which advertisers might like have happened, and on several, he's reneged without explaining why. What large corporation trying to remain politically neutral-ish* while appeasing a wide base of customers wants any part of this? * Politically neutral-ish in my view means "so anodyne and vague in our behavior that moderate people of the left and right both think we're with them, and extremists from either side can be ignored."
- HWR_14 4y ago
  Indeed. Some of those companies value their brands at more than what Elon spent on Twitter. It seems reasonable to me that they would hesitate to risk appearing next to divisive political content.
godshatter 4y ago
Does Twitter need those specific advertisers more than they need Twitter? The ones that remain that couldn't quite make the list will become their new "top advertisers" and reap the benefits. I doubt they are in any danger of running out of companies that want to advertise on their service. I don't really care about Musk or Twitter, but I'm hoping this whole debacle will result in less reliance on advertising for services like these. It's already resulted in more interest in the fediverse.
- mhoad 4y ago
  It’s clear you don’t work in marketing or advertising from this comment (not a criticism just a neutral observation) but I have for the past ten years. I couldn’t even begin to describe the power imbalance here. Twitter need them much more than they need Twitter. It’s not even close.
  - autotune 4y ago
    Depends how much more money melon plans to burn on Twitter and for how long.
- dragontamer 4y ago
  Twitter isn't even a top 10 social media site, let alone a top 10 advertiser (which includes major publications like network television: CNBC, ABC, Fox, and the like... Sports Stadiums, Billboards, etc. etc.) Like, what advertisements on Social Media actually get things done? Google Adsense, Facebook, Amazon, Youtube, Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, Apple Play store, Google Play store. Etc. etc. Yeah, a lot of repeats (Google, Youtube, Google Play. Amazon/Twitch, etc. etc.), but the big advertisers have multiple locations that really draw a lot of eyeballs. Twitch is _TINY_ compared to everyone else. -------- Advertisers are also super worried about the (possible) upcoming recession and are cutting advertising dollars significantly. There was a chance Twitter was always somewhat doomed, but actively pissing off the Advertiser base and accelerating the Advertiser exodus certainly doesn't help. Twitter has gone from "Small advertiser" into "actively hostile advertiser". Twitter was always going to lose a chunk of ad revenue in this economic time, but now they're skyrocketing to the top of the list of ad-partners to cut.
nailer 4y ago
Source is mediamatters, a left wing political advocacy organisation that poses as a fact checker. It might be true but I would find a better source before trusting the story.
- nailer 4y ago
  For anyone that’s doubtful: > Media Matters was founded in 2004 by journalist and activist David Brock to "systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation...every day, in real time. Or for an example of people may dislike media matters: https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-matters-defends-wapo-smear-curses-shapiro-f-josh-hammer https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-matters-defends-wapo-sm...
alsaaro 4y ago
The not so secret subtext of this angst between Musk and advertisers is that Tesla doesn't advertise, yet has experienced the most growth and is the most valuable of all automotive firms. Other firms, certainly must question the value and efficacy of their advertising budget, a real threat to the advertisement industry, not "brand safety." I'd bet if Tesla did advertise; advertisement agencies wouldn't recommend their other clients pull their money from Twitter so hastily. This is a case of biting the hand that doesn't feed them.
- mhoad 4y ago
  This is delusional. I promise you they are doing this because it makes very very clear business sense and not some secret jealousy and resentment of dear Elon.
akomtu 4y ago
Wait, are we supposed to take the side of the poorly treated advertisers?
- AftHurrahWinch 4y ago
  > Wait, are we supposed to take the side of the poorly treated advertisers? It's interesting that you think we're supposed to take a side at all.
danans 4y ago
> Around the same time, Musk blamed activist groups "trying to destroy free speech in America" for "pressuring advertisers." I guess nobody has told him that pressuring advertisers is also a form of free speech.
chesneyc 4y ago
Twitter is a burning platform. If Musk hired MBA types they would've informed him of the current situation and mitigation strategies.Twitter Engineers are not the one's that will fix the company. I remember watching a WW2 documentary where the narrator said that Adolf Hitler's Nazi party would've been the first to produce the Atom bomb but their best scientists were locked up in concentration camps.I feel for the MBA types now locked in their concentration camps due to one man's hubris.
tempera 4y ago
This is a big win for Twitter! They will learn to do without and be independent of such blackmail maneuvers.

45 points by mhoad 4y ago

Actual headline: 50 of Twitter's top 100 advertisers have pulled out of the platform since Elon Musk took over, report says Half of Twitter's top 100 advertisers have stopped promoting on the platform, per Media Matters. Since 2020, those 50 companies have spent $2 billion on Twitter advertising. ---- So that's ~$300M drop in annual spend.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
AzzieElbab 4y ago
Still pretty good damage largely done by media matters themselves. They are a doxing org that petitioned to advertisers to drop twitter. Impressive.

Proven 4y ago

memish 4y ago

These companies aren't making independent decisions on this. Here is how the system works. > A large coalition of political/social activist groups agreed not to try to kill Twitter by starving us of advertising revenue if I agreed to this condition. They broke the deal. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1595196519598080000 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1595196519598080000 This group of activists have a lot of power to enforce their agenda wrapped in a cloak of "safety standards", which is defined however they want. They pressure companies to fall in line. > Jessica González, co-CEO of Free Press, said the meeting with Musk “seemed productive” but she is not “encouraged enough” to pull back on the campaign that civil rights groups launched asking advertisers to suspend their ads on Twitter if Musk doesn’t commit to enforcing safety standards. > “I think we need to keep the pressure on and make sure that his actions meet his words,” González told The Hill. > Musk met with the groups after Free Press and Media Matters led nearly 50 civil society groups in a letter Tuesday calling for Twitter’s top 20 advertisers to pull their ads if he didn’t enforce safety standards. Advertising giant IPG later reportedly issued a recommendation to its clients, which include Johnson and Johnson, Coca Cola and American Express, to pause paid advertising on Twitter. https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3717711-civil-rights-groups-call-for-further-action-after-meeting-with-musk/ https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3717711-civil-rights-g... Elon was initially playing ball with them, as most companies do because they are afraid of the consequences. He announced the council, they weren't satisfied, and he said screw it, I'll deal with the consequences.

rurp 4y ago
Poor Elon, always the victim :( If Elon and his fans can't see why advertisers would be concerned about his actions Twitter really is toast as a sustainable business.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- tinalumfoil 4y ago
  - spaced-out 4y ago
    > A powerful unaccountable shadow organization that threatens social media networks to control speech and political conversations online should concern more than just Musk. WTF is a "shadow organization", can you please define that term you used? Really, it just sounds like you have a problem with free speech and/or free association. If a group of people want to form an organization called Free Press (https://www.freepress.net/ https://www.freepress.net/) and advocate for things they think are important, that's part of being in a free country.
    - tinalumfoil 4y ago
      free association != dark money organizations influencing politics They have a slick landing page, but there's nothing there about their efforts to influence advertisers and social media, and less so about who's paying them to do that stuff.
      - spaced-out 4y ago
        I'm all for more transparency around money in politics, but unfortunately there's one political party that has consistently blocked efforts address this issue. What do you mean by "efforts to influence"? You mean calling people like Elon Musk on the phone and asking them to do stuff? Or like sending emails to people on their mailing list asking them to boycott something?

SilverBirch 4y ago

Once again I think this is going to be a matter of the left wing going "Well, I mean... that's what you get in capitalism when you turn your product into a tool to humiliate your own advertisers". And the right wing going "Oh my god these left wing social activists like... American Express, and these left wing reporters like... Associated Press are attacking Elon because he supports freedom!". I guess it's up for each of us individually to make a judgement about which side is right.

codekansas 4y ago

I find it strange that stopping advertising on some particular platform is a "big deal". It feels like it might have been so when ads were run in newspapers and on TV, but regularly adjusting your advertising strategy to be able to check its efficacy seems like common sense in today's internet advertising world. Given that the script for these companies is basically interchangeable among whichever internet platform, it probably takes a couple hours to spin up or spin down an ad campaign. Can't help but think that smart actors just use these events as cover / PR for evaluating their ad efficacy.

ivraatiems 4y ago

It's certainly in Elon Musk's interest to cast this as the actions of a cabal of politically-motivated figures. I think the reality is that if you look at Twitter as a platform under his 'leadership'... well, who'd want to advertise on it now? Musk is doing everything he can to drive away big corporations who enjoy reliability. He's summarily fired >66% of the workforce. He's implemented seemingly random policy changes, none of which have worked, many of which resulted in immediate obvious damage to the brand image of said advertisers. None of the things he has promised to do which advertisers might like have happened, and on several, he's reneged without explaining why. What large corporation trying to remain politically neutral-ish* while appeasing a wide base of customers wants any part of this? * Politically neutral-ish in my view means "so anodyne and vague in our behavior that moderate people of the left and right both think we're with them, and extremists from either side can be ignored."

HWR_14 4y ago
Indeed. Some of those companies value their brands at more than what Elon spent on Twitter. It seems reasonable to me that they would hesitate to risk appearing next to divisive political content.

godshatter 4y ago

Does Twitter need those specific advertisers more than they need Twitter? The ones that remain that couldn't quite make the list will become their new "top advertisers" and reap the benefits. I doubt they are in any danger of running out of companies that want to advertise on their service. I don't really care about Musk or Twitter, but I'm hoping this whole debacle will result in less reliance on advertising for services like these. It's already resulted in more interest in the fediverse.

mhoad 4y ago
It’s clear you don’t work in marketing or advertising from this comment (not a criticism just a neutral observation) but I have for the past ten years. I couldn’t even begin to describe the power imbalance here. Twitter need them much more than they need Twitter. It’s not even close.
- autotune 4y ago
  Depends how much more money melon plans to burn on Twitter and for how long.
dragontamer 4y ago
Twitter isn't even a top 10 social media site, let alone a top 10 advertiser (which includes major publications like network television: CNBC, ABC, Fox, and the like... Sports Stadiums, Billboards, etc. etc.) Like, what advertisements on Social Media actually get things done? Google Adsense, Facebook, Amazon, Youtube, Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, Apple Play store, Google Play store. Etc. etc. Yeah, a lot of repeats (Google, Youtube, Google Play. Amazon/Twitch, etc. etc.), but the big advertisers have multiple locations that really draw a lot of eyeballs. Twitch is _TINY_ compared to everyone else. -------- Advertisers are also super worried about the (possible) upcoming recession and are cutting advertising dollars significantly. There was a chance Twitter was always somewhat doomed, but actively pissing off the Advertiser base and accelerating the Advertiser exodus certainly doesn't help. Twitter has gone from "Small advertiser" into "actively hostile advertiser". Twitter was always going to lose a chunk of ad revenue in this economic time, but now they're skyrocketing to the top of the list of ad-partners to cut.

nailer 4y ago

Source is mediamatters, a left wing political advocacy organisation that poses as a fact checker. It might be true but I would find a better source before trusting the story.

nailer 4y ago
For anyone that’s doubtful: > Media Matters was founded in 2004 by journalist and activist David Brock to "systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation...every day, in real time. Or for an example of people may dislike media matters: https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-matters-defends-wapo-smear-curses-shapiro-f-josh-hammer https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-matters-defends-wapo-sm...

alsaaro 4y ago

The not so secret subtext of this angst between Musk and advertisers is that Tesla doesn't advertise, yet has experienced the most growth and is the most valuable of all automotive firms. Other firms, certainly must question the value and efficacy of their advertising budget, a real threat to the advertisement industry, not "brand safety." I'd bet if Tesla did advertise; advertisement agencies wouldn't recommend their other clients pull their money from Twitter so hastily. This is a case of biting the hand that doesn't feed them.

mhoad 4y ago
This is delusional. I promise you they are doing this because it makes very very clear business sense and not some secret jealousy and resentment of dear Elon.

akomtu 4y ago

Wait, are we supposed to take the side of the poorly treated advertisers?

AftHurrahWinch 4y ago
> Wait, are we supposed to take the side of the poorly treated advertisers? It's interesting that you think we're supposed to take a side at all.

danans 4y ago

> Around the same time, Musk blamed activist groups "trying to destroy free speech in America" for "pressuring advertisers." I guess nobody has told him that pressuring advertisers is also a form of free speech.

chesneyc 4y ago

Twitter is a burning platform. If Musk hired MBA types they would've informed him of the current situation and mitigation strategies.Twitter Engineers are not the one's that will fix the company. I remember watching a WW2 documentary where the narrator said that Adolf Hitler's Nazi party would've been the first to produce the Atom bomb but their best scientists were locked up in concentration camps.I feel for the MBA types now locked in their concentration camps due to one man's hubris.

tempera 4y ago

This is a big win for Twitter! They will learn to do without and be independent of such blackmail maneuvers.