An overwhelming majority of the world’s biggest-spending advertisers have stopped advertising on X following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company, according to new data provided exclusively to Insider by the marketing consultancy Ebiquity.
Ebiquity, which works with 70 of the top 100 top-spending advertisers, according to media research company COMvergence, said that just two of its clients had purchased ads on X last month. That was down from 31 brands in September last year, prior to Musk’s takeover of Twitter that October. The number of Ebiquity clients advertising on X has steadily declined ever since, the data shows.
Ebiquity didn’t name those advertisers. Ebiquity’s clients include Google, Walmart, Vodafone, and General Motors, according to recent financial filings. The company drew its X data from its digital media solutions unit, through which it gathers digital media investment data from agencies and platforms.
“This is a drop we have not seen before for any major advertising platform,” said said Ruben Schreurs, Ebiquity’s chief strategy officer.
Ebiquity said its analysis appears to contradict statements made by X CEO Linda Yaccarino who said in an on-stage interview last month that “90% of the top 100 advertisers have returned to X in the last twelve weeks alone.” In the same interview she cited Visa, Nissan, and AT&T as among the “1,500” brands that had resumed spending on X.
An X spokesman clarified that the 90% figure referred to X’s 100 top spenders from the prior year, and declined to publicly comment about Ebiquity’s findings.
Twitter’s largest clients have typically also been among the biggest spending global advertisers, such as Amazon, Unilever, Coca-Cola, and IBM, Bloomberg previously reported, citing data from the analytics firm Sensor Tower.
Musk in April said that “almost all” of its advertisers had come back or said they would do so. Last month, he said X’s US advertising revenue was down 60%, though he didn’t provide a timeframe.
“The recent claims by X’s leadership around the mass return of top advertisers buying ads on their platform has puzzled us,” said Ebiquity’s Schreurs, who added that the consultancy’s work with clients and discussions with advertiser trade body groups hadn’t provided any indicators that big advertisers were back on X.
Ebiquity’s analysis has led to “serious concerns about the trustworthiness of public statements made by Musk and Yaccarino,” Schreurs said.
A number of advertisers have stopped or drastically reduced their spending on X over the past year, amid concerns about the content it hosts and the general reliability and effectiveness of its ad platform.
A separate analysis, from the advertising analytics firm Guideline, found that X’s US ad revenue has dropped 55% or more each month since Musk’s takeover. A review of data from Sensor Tower conducted by progressive watchdog group Media Matters found that while some advertisers had technically returned to purchasing ads on X, they were doing so at just a fraction of the level of their previous spend. Visa, for example, spent $10 in the 12 weeks to October 6, compared to $77,500 during the same period last year, according to Sensor Tower’s data.
“We would welcome an official follow-up with supporting data in a time where trust and transparency are of critical importance,” said Schreurs.
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