Some of the top advertisers who fled X a year ago are returning, according to a new report that said the trend could continue after President-elect Trump’s victory last week.
Comcast, IBM, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Lionsgate Entertainment, all of which bolted X a year ago in a dither over the content of the social media platform, have returned, according to AdWeek.
However, as an illustration that their return is a work in progress, the firm MediaRadar found that from January through September, these companies spent around $3.3 million combined with X.
That amounts to a 98 percent drop from what they spent in the same months of 2023.
Trump’s election, however, might alter that dynamic.
“X’s owner now has the ear of the president-elect, a man who has a long history of helping his friends, and punishing his enemies,” said Max Willens, a senior analyst at Emarketer, referring to Elon Musk.
“Sending at least a trickle of ad spending toward X may be seen as good for business, albeit in an indirect way,” he said.
On the day after election X hit a record with 46.5 million visits, the highest traffic in the past year.
“The advertisers that have returned to X this year are clearly interested in reaching that audience,” Willens said.
Do you use X?
Karma Shopping, Canles Shoes, and Kueez Entertainment are X’s current top advertisers, according to MediaRadar.
“This suggests that X might move to a long-tail advertiser strategy, ” said Meghan Fraze, chief product officer, of MediaRadar.
“This would benefit new brands that are looking for ways to connect with audiences without the intense competition. As X evolves, it could be forging an ad model that’s less dependent on the usual suspects,” Fraze said.
The advertiser boycott drew a combative reaction from Musk, who in 2023 told publicly told advertisers who fled x to “go f— yourselves,” according to the Verge.
Lou Paskalis, chief executive of marketing consultancy AJL Advisory, said advertising on X could be a form of “political leverage” as companies that want federal business might seek to show they are in the “good graces of Elon,” according to the Financial Times.
Trump’s victory gives his ally Musk what one ad agency official said was a new legitimacy.
Musk had said he expected a Trump win would bring advertisers back.
“Some of the boycott is starting to lift,” he told podcaster Joe Rogan, adding, “If Trump wins, we’ll see . . . most of the boycott lift.”
A report on Axios said X connects with users.
Through the election season, data from SimilarWeb indicated X had about “30 times more daily visits” than Threads, Bluesky or Truth Social.
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