If Twitter's ad revenue is off an average of 50%, as Elon Musk disclosed earlier this week, then it's coming mainly from the platforms
biggest advertisers.
Ad spending across Twitter's top 10 ad categories are down an average 71% through the first six months of 2023 compared to the same period a year ago, according to estimates
released today by ad tracking service MediaRadar.
Insurance marketers, the second largest Twitter ad category, is down the most (-96%), followed by tech companies (-92%), online games (-85%)
and digital currencies (-78%). See table above.
Among specific advertisers, four -- including Twitter rival Meta Platforms, insurer Progressive, Crypto.com and Pernod-Ricard -- have cut their
ad spending completely (-100%), followed by Coca-Cola (-99%) and AT&T (-96%).
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If Twitter is down only 50% during the same period, then it likely is being sustained by smaller advertisers,
and most likely the long tail of small and medium-size businesses that may be less sensitive to the erratic policy changes during Musk's ownership.
"Key Industries are reducing their
investment on the platform,” MediaRadar CEO Todd Krizelman notes, adding, “This drastic decrease in ad spend from critical categories, coupled with a similar reduction by some of the top
advertisers, will continue to be a challenge for Twitter. Linda Yaccarino, Twitter’s new CEO, is likely to help bring some of the dollars back given her strong reputation. However, the pressure
from Meta’s Threads – not just for users but for ad dollars – is real and growing.”