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Twitter’s ad revenue reportedly down 40% as advertisers stay away

By our News Team | 2023

Major brands that paused their spending on the social media platform when Musk took over are continuing to place their adspend elsewhere.

Advertisers are continuing to boycott Twitter in the Elon Musk era, with various international media outlets reporting yesterday (Wednesday) that ad revenue is 40% down and that around 500 advertisers are continuing to keep their adspend on the platform on hold.

Twitter has been in an advertising squeeze since Musk’s chaotic takeover in October last year. Advertisers are concerned about the future direction of the social media channel, its ethics, technical issues and data privacy – among others.

Image by Edar from Pixabay

“Tiny scoop: We learned today that Twitter’s revenue is down 40 percent year over year (and Musk’s first giant interest payment on the company is due at the end of the month),” said Zoë Schiffer, Managing Editor of technology newsletter The Platformer. Ironically, she made her announcement on Twitter.

Crisis facing Twitter’s core ad business

The Information, a technology news website, also reported yesterday (Wednesday): “A senior Twitter manager told employees that the company’s daily revenue on Tuesday was 40% lower than the same day a year ago, underscoring the crisis facing its core ads business, according to a person with direct knowledge.”

The report added: “In a staff meeting on Tuesday, Siddharth Rao, an engineering manager overseeing the engineers working on Twitter’s ad business, also told employees in a presentation that more than 500 of Twitter’s top advertisers have paused spending on Twitter since Elon Musk took over in October.”

Advertising is the main source of income for Twitter, accounting for more than 90% of its US$5.1-billion in revenue in 2021, The Guardian newspaper said in its own report, noting that advertisers including Audi and Pfizer are among the firms that have paused after the Tesla CEO’s $44-billion takeover of Twitter.

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