An international publication has accessed internal documents that pointed to Twitter’s crisis in ad revenue, which stands at $88 million for the five weeks between April 1 and early May
Microblogging platform Twitter owned by Elon Musk has been beleaguered by falling advertising revenues, according to a report by an international publication. The platform’s US ad revenue has plummeted by 59% from last year to $88 million for the five weeks between April 1 and early May this year. This is despite Musk’s assertion that almost all advertisers have come back to the platform and Twitter’s profits may be looking up.
The publication cited an internal presentation, which also stated that the company has regularly fallen short of its US weekly sales projections sometimes as much as 30%.
The report also claimed that the performance is unlikely to improve anytime soon, citing documents and Twitter employees’ statements.
Ever since Musk took over the microblogging platform, Twitter has been projected as a free-speech bastion that aimed to break free from its alleged targeting of conservative voices.
However, concerns about hate speech and pornography also rose and companies started distancing themselves from the platform for fear of bad optics. Ads for online gambling and cannabis on the platform further drove the advertisers away.
Apple, Amazon and Disney, who were some of Twitter’s biggest advertisers, have cut down their ad spends on the platform. The report also said that the banner ads that sell for $500,000 for a single day have been going unfulfilled.
Former NBCUniversal exec Linda Yaccarino took over as Twitter CEO in May and will have her work cut out for her to drive more advertising revenue to the platform.
