November 24, 2024

Musk: Elon Musk’s X has a new ‘survival plan’ as advertising revenues go dry

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Elon Musk loves to post on X and it’s his love that has proved to be ‘toxic’ as it has dried up his company’s cash drawers. Musk’s poor choice of words in public is likely to cost the company millions. Big brands like Apple, Disney, IBM and Comcast, among others have paused advertising – the main revenue of the company. But it seems the company has a plan to float just above the water.
According to a report by The Financial Times, X is ramping up a new advertising strategy.As big brands alienate the platform, the company is looking to turn to small and medium-sized advertisers to bring some revenue.
“Small and medium businesses are a very significant engine that we have definitely underplayed for a long time,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying. The spokesperson added that roping in small and medium brands was “always part of the plan” and the company will now go even further with it.
Why big brands have fled the platform
The things started to go bad when a report from liberal watchdog group Media Matters said that several ads had appeared next to antisemitic posts. It got worse when Musk commented, “the actual truth” on a post which claimed that Jewish people have a “dialectical hatred” of white people. Reports then claimed that big brands have paused advertising on the platform.
When asked about it during his interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit earlier this week, Musk said the brands are ‘blackmailing’ him and hurled abuse at them for doing it.
“If someone is going to try and blackmail me with advertising? blackmail me with money? Go f**k yourself,” he said. Musk then added, “Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience,” pointing out the Disney CEO Bob Iger, who earlier in the day explained why the company pulled advertising from the platform.
“By him taking the position that he took in quite a public manner, we just felt that the association with that position and Elon Musk and X was not necessarily a positive one for us, and we decided we would pull our advertising,” Iger said, referring to Musk’s post.
Walmart pauses advertising on X
Meanwhile, Walmart said that it is not advertising on X, becoming the latest brand to drop the Musk-owned platform.
“We aren’t advertising on X as we’ve found other platforms to better reach our customers,” a Walmart spokesperson said.



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