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Twitter clashes with big advertisers.

 

After several waves of lay-offs and departures, Twitter’s ads business team has shrunk so much that many agencies no longer have any point of contact at the company and have received little to no communication in recent weeks, according to four industry insiders. One media buyer said that some brands had been unable to get feedback on how previous campaigns had performed because of the staffing shortages. In addition, Musk is under pressure to draw revenues from Twitter, as he faces $1bn in annual interest payments after loading the company with $13bn of debt to help fund his acquisition of the business. On October 27, the day he closed his $44bn deal to buy Twitter, the Tesla and SpaceX head sought to reassure marketers that the platform would not become a «free-for-all hellscape» despite his plans to relax content moderation restrictions.

Soon afterwards, he conducted phone calls and meetings to reassure top ad agencies and brands. In the meetings, Musk appeared across all the details of how the platform is run, two agency executives said, impressing brands with his knowledge. Groups such as General Motors, Volkswagen, Carlsberg and General Mills have announced they would pause spending on the platform given the moderation concerns. Robin Wheeler, who started heading up Twitter’s ads sales business under Musk after the former chief Sarah Personette resigned, left the company last week.

Bloomberg reported that Wheeler was fired by Musk after refusing to sack more people in the ad sales team. Twitter and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. Musk’s use of Twitter has also unnerved brands who fear their content being placed next to harmful content. The self-described «free speech absolutist» further irked advertisers when he relaunched Twitter’s premium subscription service, Twitter Blue, as its «blue tick» feature was abused by impersonators, targeting politicians and brands such as Eli Lilly and Lockheed Martin.

In mid-November, Omnicom Media Group recommended clients pause spending on the platform, according to three people familiar with the move, following a similar recommendation from Interpublic. «Musk’s best chance of bringing advertisers back to Twitter is to appoint a new CEO,» said Darren Savage, chief strategy officer at Tribal Worldwide.

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  1. Anonymous28 November 2022 at 14:39

    Most advertisers will be back in just a few months but yes, Twitter needs a new CEO quickly. We will see which accounts are reinstated and how the conversation goes from then on. It's clear that liberty of speech should be a priority but we shouldn't just allow anything and everything on the platform.

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    1. Adam28 November 2022 at 16:47

      They do need a CEO but I’m not sure most advertisers will be back. Some of them are scared that Twitter will become the place where everything can and will be said, including conspiracy theories with no basis in reality. Things like these will keep advertisers away.

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