A third of the major Twitter advertisers have stopped their ads on the platform during the past two weeks, in an indication of the extent of volatility among advertisers following billionaire Elon Musk took control of the company.
The Pathmatics data showed that drugmaker Merck, cereal maker Kellogg, Verizon and Boston Beer have stopped in recent weeks. The companies did not respond to requests for comment. On November 12, the Omnicom archyde news and Marketing Group issued a recommendation to its clients to temporarily stop spending on Twitter ads in the short term.
Omnicom serves more than 5,000 customers in 70 countries, including McDonald’s, Apple and Johnson & Johnson. The memo did not mention the customers by name, and it is not clear whether any of them had temporarily stopped spending on Twitter ads, according to Archyde.com, but the move itself confirms growing doubts among agencies and brands regarding the future of Twitter since Musk acquired it for 44%. Billion dollar.
Tesla’s CEO blamed civil rights groups for the dramatic drop in revenue as they pressure Twitter advertisers to boycott service until Musk demonstrates how he will control misinformation and hate speech on the platform.
Twitter’s ability to maintain the previous level of brand safety and effectiveness measures appears to be hampered in the near term. Ad sales account for more than 90% of revenues in the second quarter of 2022. The American car manufacturer General Motors, along with major car companies in Europe, last month temporarily suspended paid ads on Twitter.