Advertisers are continuing to stay away from Twitter, report says

This is by comparison with the same time last year, which was prior to the chaotic takeover by Musk.

The Times based its report an internal Twitter presentation seen by its reporters, as well as on information obtained from unnamed Twitter employees, past and present.

“The company has regularly fallen short of its US weekly sales projections, sometimes by as much as 30%, the document said. That performance is unlikely to improve anytime soon, according to the documents and seven current and former Twitter employees,” the report published in The Times says.

It adds that Twitter’s internal expectations are for advertising income from the US market to consistently be down at least 56% each week compared with a year ago.

A global slowdown in social media advertising

Advertising on the big social media platforms around the world has slowed in recent times – the main reason for employee layoffs at the likes of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and others – but in Twitter’s case there are also unique reasons related to the Musk takeover and subsequent change of strategic direction. Advertising has typically comprised around 90% of Twitter’s total income.

“Twitter’s ad sales staff is concerned that advertisers may be spooked by a rise in hate speech and pornography on the social network, as well as more ads featuring online gambling and marijuana products,” The Times said, quoting its sources within Twitter.

Among the big global brands that are known to have paused their advertising on Twitter are General Motors and Volkswagen.

“Essentially, as it stands right now, despite Musk’s efforts, Twitter still needs a lot of ad dollars to keep running, or it’ll run the risk of going out of business – even with 80% fewer staff to pay,” the online publication Social Media Today commented.