Disney, IBM and other advertisers “unfreeze” their advertising investment in X

X (formerly Twitter) is probably not going through its best moment and since Donald Trump declared himself the winner at the polls a couple of weeks ago across the seas (with the unconditional support of his friend Elon Musk), many users have stampeded from the social network to take refuge in the arms of BlueSky and others. alternative platforms.

However, despite the vaunted desertion of users that has been occurring in recent days within X, the truth is that brands such as Comcast, IBM, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Lionsgate Entertainment, who once invested generously in this social network and then froze their advertising investment there, have been announced again throughout this year on Elon Musk’s 2.0 platform (although with much more discreet figures than a few years ago).

Between January and June 2024, these brands collectively invested less than €3.3 million in Xaccording to data compiled by the “marketing intelligence” platform MediaRadar which is echoed Adweek. This figure represents a 98% year-on-year drop compared to the $170 million that Comcast, IBM, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Lionsgate Entertainment invested in X during the same period in 2023.

These five advertisers, together with Apple, made the decision to pause their advertising campaigns on X in November 2023 after verifying that their ads had appeared next to anti-Semitic content and hate messages. It also happens that at that time Elon Musk, owner of

Which brands currently invest the most in X?

Among the advertisers that currently invest the most in X are brands such as Karma Shopping, Canles Shoes and Kueez Entertainment. Each of these brands has invested more than 12 million dollars throughout this year in Elon Musk’s social network to stand out from the crowd on a platform where there is not, in any case, as much advertising saturation as on other channels.

“This data suggests that X could be becoming a suitable platform for advertisers’ long-tail strategies.”explains Meghan Fraze, chief product officer of MediaRadar, in statements to Adweek. “This would mainly benefit new brands that are looking for innovative ways to connect with their target audience without having to face intense competition,” adds Fraze.

A global Kantar report involving 1,000 marketing professionals and 18,000 consumers from more than 20 different countries concluded that 25% of marketers expected to reduce advertising spending in X in 2025. And the same study showed that only 4% of marketing professionals trusted X from the point of view of “brand safety”, a proportion that skyrockets, however, to 39% in the case of Google Ads.

The results of the US presidential election could, however, force some brands to recalibrate the rather cautious approach with which they have approached X until now. in view of the close ties that exist between the owner of this social network and Donald Trump, the elected president of the North American country.

Will Donald Trump’s victory lead to the return of advertisers to X?

«The owner of X has the support of the president-elect, a man who has always had a reputation for helping his friends and punishing his enemies»says Max Willens, senior analysts at Emarketer. “Investing in X, even minimally, can be seen as good for business, at least indirectly,” he emphasizes.

X has always struggled with problems when it comes to demonstrating the effectiveness of its advertising formatsespecially compared to Meta and Google. However, the social network insists that it is implementing improvements to its advertising formats (and this could ultimately attract more advertisers).

According to MediaRadar, Comcast invested less than $1.5 million in X throughout this year, while Warner Bros. Discovery put its advertising investment on this platform at $1.1 million. Much less invested, on the contrary, Disney ($550,000), Lionsgate ($230,000) and IBM ($2,000).

If we stop at Apple, which froze its advertising investment in X last year, There is no indication that the apple company has resumed its advertising activity on this platform.

During the third quarter of year X, 1.8 billion dollars entered its coffers from advertisingwhich constitutes a prolapse of 29% compared to the 2.5 billion dollars invoiced during the same period in 2023.