About a quarter of advertisers plan to cut spending on social media site X (formerly Twitter) next year, according to a new survey of marketers by Kantar. That would be the biggest drop on record for a top advertising platform, the research group noted.
The findings come after X has faced an exodus of advertisers over the past year, with major companies including Apple, Coca-Cola and Disney remove paid ads from the platform in 2023. Some of those companies have cut their spending by X after billionaire owner Elon Musk endorsed an anti-Semitic post last year.
X’s advertising woes continue until 2024, with the World Bank stop all paid advertising on the platform earlier this month after a CBS News Research found that the organization’s ads were displayed under a racist message from an account that frequently posted neo-Nazi and white nationalist content.
Jerrad Christan, the Democratic candidate for Ohio’s 12th District, also recently pulled X campaign ads after they also appeared alongside anti-Semitic messages.
“We knew our ads were showing in comments and on profiles, but we had no idea they were showing under these types of accounts or posts,” Christian’s campaign communications director Tim Cox told CBS News. He said X’s ad platform includes an option to limit the types of accounts an organization’s spots appear under.
“Our ads’ brand safety setting is set to ‘limited,’ which X says is best for ‘brands with strict sensitivity thresholds,’” Cox added. “Clearly, this brand safety tool is broken.”
According to Kantar, the findings are based on interviews with 18,000 consumers in more than two dozen markets and 1,000 senior marketing executives globally.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Most trusted platforms
Marketers’ confidence in advertising on X has declined since Musk bought the social media platform in 2022, according to Kantar. Only about 4% of marketers told the research group they believe X offers brand safety, compared to 39% for Google, which has the highest safety rating among advertisers.
Brand safety refers to taking steps to protect a company’s image and reputation, such as ensuring that advertisements do not appear next to offensive content. The findings suggest that X may struggle in its efforts to lure back advertisers, which it has tried to do under X CEO Linda YaccarinoKantar noted.
“Advertisers have been shifting their marketing spend away from X for years. The sharp acceleration of this trend over the past 12 months means a reversal currently seems unlikely,” said Gonca Bubani, global thought leadership director at Kantar, in a statement.
Bubani added: “Marketers are brand custodians and need to have confidence in the platforms they use. X has changed so much in recent years and can be unpredictable overnight — it’s hard to feel confident about the safety of your brand in that environment.”
Marketers say their best digital brand for advertising is YouTube, while consumers rank Amazon and TikTok as their favorite platforms, Kantar said. Consumers said they find Amazon ads relevant and useful, while TikTok ads are seen as more entertaining, it added.
