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In Just 3 Words, Kevin O’Leary Explained the Real Reason Advertisers Are Leaving X (Twitter). It’s Not What You Think

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BY JUSTIN BARISO

The ‘Shark Tank’ investor and serial entrepreneur says he stopped advertising on X months ago. The writing was on the wall.

X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, made headlines recently as advertisers have left in droves. Many have blamed the mass exodus on the actions of X’s owner, Elon Musk, along with companies’ unwillingness to be associated with the X brand.

But in a recent interview with CNN, Shark Tank investor and serial entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary says he left X for a completely different reason.

“I spend about 2 million [dollars] a month on social/digital buys with my 40-plus companies,” O’Leary explained. “But nine weeks ago, we stopped investing in Twitter. Only because it wasn’t giving us good CAC, customer acquisition cost numbers, and ROAS, return on advertising spend. So those numbers were the worst of all the platforms.”

He continued, “I would put money to work if they could fix this mess. I don’t know what to say. It’s not working.”

It’s not working.

With those three words, O’Leary sums up why he left advertising on X, and it has nothing to do with Musk or the controversial issues he’s been dealing with. In fact, O’Leary said he’s “agnostic” to the controversial issues, and that his goal is simply to “put money to work where it returns customers.” He also said he has “high hopes for Elon to fix it.”

There’s a deeper lesson to extract here, one that could be valuable not only to X, but also to you and your business. And it has to do, not with X’s advertisers, but with its customers.

The reason behind the reason

It’s important to recognize that O’Leary isn’t the only one to say X isn’t providing enough return on investment.

Earlier this month, Walmart told The Wall Street Journal it too stopped advertising on X, with a spokeswoman adding that “this has nothing to do with Musk’s statements on or off the platform,” and that “we’ve simply decreased spend over time to align with performance.”

Additionally, a Walmart spokesperson told Reuters the company was not currently advertising on X “as we’ve found other platforms to better reach our customers.”

So, what’s the problem? Why aren’t ads on X providing the return companies like Walmart and those owned by O’Leary are looking for?

Well, it may be a temporary problem. But it’s also important to realize that the X audience and user experience is much different from that offered on other social media platforms.

Since Musk’s takeover of Twitter over a year ago, and the subsequent rebranding to X, the platform has become much darker–literally and figuratively. The logo and branding send emotional signals of “extreme” and “edgy.” Even Grok, the A.I. chatbot that Musk is billing as a direct competitor to ChatGPT and which is already being made available to X Premium Plus subscribers, has gained notoriety for its ability to use vulgar language.

This positioning is much different from that of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Although those companies have their own problems, they are generally considered “family-friendly” and “mainstream”–at least by their users.

And herein lies the problem: X’s positioning limits the potential audience that mainstream advertisers hope to reach on the platform.

Maybe it’s true that the majority of advertisers who have left X did so because of disalignment with Musk and his company’s policies. But their decision to leave becomes an easy one if their ads are getting better performance on other platforms anyway.

Of course, Musk has repeatedly stated that his goals for Twitter/X are to completely transform the platform. He wants X to be an everything app, where users come not only for conversation and entertainment, but also to do their banking and other financial activities. If he succeeds at creating a new product type that people actually use, the loss of advertising dollars may no longer be so important.

But we’re a long way from that. And if X continues to push users and advertisers away, it’s questionable whether it will survive the interim.

So, what’s the lesson for you as a business owner?

If you’re considering a rebrand of your business, remember that the changes you make will have an emotional impact on your customers. Those decisions will have far-reaching consequences–some intentional, others not. So, take your time to think things through, and make sure the message you’re sending continues to be one that resonates with your target audience.

Of course, it’s very possible Musk anticipated many of these consequences, and he’s willing to live with them. But it appears that many of his company’s advertisers aren’t.

Feature Image Credit: Kevin O’Leary. Getty Images

BY JUSTIN BARISO

Sourced from Inc.

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One year post-acquisition, X traffic and monthly active users are in decline, report claims

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By Sarah Perez

Despite proclamations from X CEO Linda Yaccarino that usage of the social network was at an all-time high this summer, a new report is throwing cold water on those claims, saying that X usage has actually declined on all fronts, across both web and mobile. According to data from market intelligence firm Similarweb, X’s global website traffic was down 14% year-over-year in September, and U.S. traffic was down by 19%. On mobile devices in the U.S., performance had also declined 17.8% year-over-year, based on monthly active users on iOS and Android.

Image Credits: Similarweb

Although the U.S. accounts for roughly a quarter of X’s web traffic, other countries also saw declines in web traffic, including the U.K. (-11.6%), France (-13.4%), Germany (-17.9%) and Australia (-17.5%).

The report notes that September was not just a fluke, either, as declines in usage were visible in long-term trends as well. When comparing the first nine months of 2023 with the same period in 2022, Simiarweb found X’s website traffic was down 11.6% year-over-year in the U.S. and down by 7% worldwide.  Mobile app usage in the U.S. was also down by 12.8% during that same period of time.

However, there is one bright spot for X…or rather its owner, Elon Musk. Traffic to Musk’s profile page on the site was up 96% year-over-year as of last month.

Image Credits: Similarweb

The firm’s estimates are determined by machine learning algorithms powered by millions of websites and apps’ first-party analytics, including through its own consumer products that measure device traffic data as well as through partnerships with other companies, including ISPs, other measurement firms and demand-side platforms. Its methodology on mobile devices relies heavily on Android data, however, because of the tighter restrictions Apple places on its App Store and data privacy.

Still, even with a glimpse into Android data, you can get a sense of how well X is faring. On that front, Similarweb notes that X mobile app usage worldwide was down by 14.8% on Android, compared with the -17.8% drop in the U.S. across iOS and Android.

The report also indicates that X’s declines are part of a broader shift, as web traffic to the top 100 social networks and online communities the firm tracks were also down by 3.7% in September, save TikTok, which grew 22.8% on a global basis. Facebook web traffic, for example, was down 10.4%.

Image Credits: Similarweb

Image Credits: Similarweb

On mobile, the same trend was true, but X’s monthly active users declined by 17.8% in September, compared with Facebook and Instagram, down by 8% and 3.7%, respectively.

Image Credits: Similarweb

In addition, Similarweb’s analysis touches on the declining importance of X in the news ecosystem, noting that three years ago, The New York Times would receive 3-4% of its traffic from Twitter, but that’s now down to less than 1%. Of course, X began throttling links to the Times in August, along with other competitors like Bluesky and Threads. This week, X was accused of throttling Patreon links as well.

But in reality, Twitter’s importance to news publishers has always been overstated. News may have broken on Twitter but it was never a significant traffic source. In fact, NPR left the platform six months ago after Musk began labeling it and other outlets as “state-affiliated media.” A recent report from Nieman indicates NPR’s loss of traffic from leaving X has been “negligible” — traffic only dropped by a single percentage point, where it used to account for just under 2% of overall traffic.

Though the report doesn’t include much good news for X, it did admit that the app seems to have staying power.

“…somehow the X / Twitter audience has eroded but not evaporated,” wrote Similarweb’s Senior Insights Manager David Carr.

That’s worth noting, given the increased competition from new competitors like Bluesky, Post, Pebble, Spill, Mastodon and Threads.

X would likely dispute Similarweb’s findings, as its execs have only touted traffic increases, not declines. The company recently told TechCrunch that X sees 500 million posts per day, including original content, replies and reposts, and noted that X generates 100 billion impressions per day. Yaccarino also shared other figures at an event in October, noting that people are spending 14% more time on X, with a 20% increase in consuming video, and that 1.5 million sign up for X daily, up 4% year-over-year.

X did not respond to requests for comment.

Feature Image Credit: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

By Sarah Perez

Sourced from TechCrunch

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Linda Yaccarino, CEO Of Platform Formerly Known As Twitter, Tells X Employees They Are “Writing History” With Rebrand; Users Don’t Seem Very X-Cited

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By Dade Hayes

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, the digital platform formerly known as Twitter, told employees they are “writing history” with the stunning overhaul of the well-established brand.

In an email to employees obtained by Deadline (subject line: “X: Our Next Big Impression”), Yaccarino said Twitter “made a lasting imprint on the world” during its 17-year run. In rebranding it as X and ditching the blue bird logo, part of a move to explore new business areas like banking, payments and video, the company will “go even further to transform the global town square — and impress the world all over again,” the former NBCUniversal exec said. She went on to urge them, “Please don’t take this moment for granted. You’re writing history, and there’s no limit to our transformation.”

Yaccarino went on to declare, “Our company uniquely has the drive to make this possible. Many companies say they want to move fast — but we enjoy moving at the speed of light, and when we do, that’s X. At our core, we have an inventor mindset — constantly learning, testing out new approaches, changing to get it right and ultimately succeeding.”

Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion last fall and positioned it as the centrepiece of a company called X Corp., which he runs along with Tesla and SpaceX. He has since made a series of dramatic moves, laying off thousands of employees, restoring access to a number of users banned under prior content policies and imposing a paid verification system that will factor prominently into the evolution of X. Yaccarino, an ad sales veteran, joined as CEO in June and is working to persuade advertisers who have paused spending or pulled out altogether that the platform can once again be a safe and effective place for their ad dollars.

The internal memo was a somewhat more focused version of a series of tweets (Xs?) Yaccarino had posted earlier, drawing side-eyes and scepticism on the company’s own platform. “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – cantered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities,” she wrote. “Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”

As workers in San Francisco began prying the “Twitter” letters off the side of the corporate headquarters and preparing the white-on-black replacement, reactions circulated on the platform. For now, it still has its long-time domain name and interface, though the bird logo has been replaced by an “X,” and users seemed suspicious of the plan. ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes quote-tweeted Yaccarino: “Enjoyable to imagine Kendall Roy saying this to investors.” (Comedian and Twitch gamer Andy Cortez obliged by reading the tweet as Kendall Roy (with a few expletives thrown in). Eric Idle proposed, “Perhaps it should be called Twatter after the owner?”

Tech media personality Kara Swisher was among those replying directly to Yaccarino: “Sounds dandy, but big issue here is that you must deliver. So far under Elon regime” and completing the thought with a GIF of a worker throwing shipping boxes at a conveyor belt.

Here’s Yaccarino’s full memo:

Hi team,

What a momentous weekend. As I said yesterday, it’s extremely rare, whether it’s in life or in business, that you have the opportunity to make another big impression. That’s what we’re experiencing together, in real time. Take a moment to put it all into perspective.

17 years ago, Twitter made a lasting imprint on the world. The platform changed the speed at which people accessed information. It created a new dynamic for how people communicated, debated, and responded to things happening in the world. Twitter introduced a new way for people, public figures, and brands to build long lasting relationships. In one way or another, everyone here is a driving force in that change. But equally all our users and partners constantly challenged us to dream bigger, to innovate faster, and to fulfil our great potential.

With X we will go even further to transform the global town square — and impress the world all over again.

Our company uniquely has the drive to make this possible. Many companies say they want to move fast — but we enjoy moving at the speed of light, and when we do, that’s X. At our core, we have an inventor mindset — constantly learning, testing out new approaches, changing to get it right and ultimately succeeding.

With X, we serve our entire community of users and customers by working tirelessly to preserve free expression and choice, create limitless interactivity, and create a marketplace that enables the economic success of all its participants.

The best news is we’re well underway. Everyone should be proud of the pace of innovation over the last nine months — from long form content, to creator monetization, and tremendous advancements in brand safety protections. Our usage is at an all time high and we’ll continue to delight our entire community with new experiences in audio, video, messaging, payments, banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities.

Please don’t take this moment for granted. You’re writing history, and there’s no limit to our transformation. And everyone, is invited to build X with us.

Elon and I will be working across every team and partner to bring X to the world. That includes keeping our entire community up to date, ensuring that we all have the information we need to move forward.

Now, let’s go make that next big impression on the world, together.

Linda

Feature Image Credit: Linda Yaccarino Getty/Courtesy

By Dade Hayes

Sourced from DEADLINE

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