25% of advertisers still left on Twitter plan to cut spending on the platform next year

About one-quarter of advertisers plan to cut spending on social media site X (formerly Twitter) next year, according to a new survey of marketers by Kantar. That would mark the biggest recorded pullback from any top ad platform, the research group noted.

The findings come as X has faced an exodus advertisers for the past year, with big companies such as Apple, Coca-Cola and Disney removing paid ads from the platform in 2023. Some of those businesses cut spending with X after billionaire owner Elon Musk endorsed an antisemitic post last year.

X's ad woes have continued into 2024, with the World Bank ceasing all paid advertising on the platform earlier this month after a CBS News investigation found that the organization's ads were showing up under a racist post from an account that prolifically posts neo-Nazi and white nationalist content.

Jerrad Christan, the Democratic candidate for Ohio's 12th district, also recently pulled campaign ads from X after they also appeared under antisemitic posts.

"We knew our ads were being shown in replies and on profiles, but we had no idea they were being served under these types of accounts or posts," Christian's campaign communications director, Tim Cox, told CBS News. He said that X's ad platform includes an option to limit the types of accounts any organization's spots appear under.

"Our ads' brand safety setting is set to 'limited,' which X says is best for 'brands with strict sensitivity thresholds,'" Cox added. "Clearly, this brand safety tool is not working."

Kantar said its findings are based on interviews with 18,000 consumers in more than two dozen markets and 1,000 senior marketing executives globally.

In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, X said that advertisers "know that X now offers stronger brand safety, performance and analytics capabilities than ever before, while seeing all-time-high levels of usage."

The company added: "Our brand safety rate is on average 99% as validated by DoubleVerify and Integral Ads Science, which is reflected by the fact that the majority of advertisers are increasing their investment in X, as shown by Kantar's data. We saw a surge in engagement during major events like the Euros and Olympics, where X enabled advertisers to connect with our highly influential and engaged audience during these key cultural moments."

Most trusted platforms
Marketers' trust in advertising on X has dwindled since Musk bought the social media platform in 2022, Kantar said. Only about 4% of marketers told the research group that it believes X provides brand safety, compared with 39% for Google, which has the highest safety ranking among advertisers.

Brand safety refers to employing measures to protect a company's image and reputation, such as ensuring ads don't appear next to objectionable content. The findings hint that X may struggle in its efforts to lure back advertisers, which it has sought to do under X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Kantar noted.

"Advertisers have been moving their marketing spend away from X for several years. The stark acceleration of this trend in the past 12 months means a turnaround currently seems unlikely," said Gonca Bubani, global thought leadership director at Kantar, in a statement.

Bubani added, "Marketers are brand custodians and need to trust the platforms they use. X has changed so much in recent years and can be unpredictable from one day to the next — it's difficult to feel confident about your brand safety in that environment."

Marketers say their top digital brand for advertising is YouTube, while consumers rank Amazon and TikTok as their favorite platforms, Kantar said. Consumers said they find Amazon ads to be relevant and useful, while TikTok ads are perceived as more fun, it added.

 

One of the U.S. political ads found by CBS News was under a post by a verified account that prolifically posts pro-Nazi and racist content. The account, which has nearly 100,000 followers, shared a picture of Hitler rejecting a Star of David being held by an arm draped in a striped sleeve.

Under the post, an ad appeared for the National Republican Senatorial Committee directing users to donate through WinRed, the prominent conservative online fundraising platform used by many GOP candidates and groups, including GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee.

The advertisement showed an image of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with the caption saying it was "paid for by the NRSC."

The NRSC is the chief fundraising committee dedicated to getting Republican Party candidates elected to the U.S. Senate. Multiple other promoted advertisements directing users to WinRed were posted under similar content.

 

The World Bank has ceased all paid advertising on Elon Musk's social media platform X, which was formerly Twitter, after a CBS News investigation found promoted advertisements from the organization showing up under a racist post from an account that prolifically posts pro-Nazi and white nationalist content.

CBS News found a verified X account with more than 115,000 followers that had posted a racist image alongside a post praising Europe's colonization of Africa. CBS News is not publicly identifying the accounts spreading racist content on X.

A promoted advertisement for the World Bank showed up in the comments section below the post.

The account has shared dozens of antisemitic and racist posts over the course of the past week alone, and CBS News found promoted advertisements from numerous businesses under multiple posts from the account as it shared pro-Nazi content, including one post showing archival video of Adolf Hitler with the caption: "We defeated the wrong enemy." That post has garnered more than two million views on the platform, according to X's own metrics.

CBS News has found more than a dozen accounts on X with the blue check indicating "verification" by the platform that have large followings and regularly post white nationalist or pro-Nazi content, and which have promoted advertisements from some recognizable brands showing up in their comments threads.

On at least five occasions, promoted advertisements for the backpack company Nordace showed up under white nationalist or pro-Nazi posts on X. This included an advertisement for a Nordace backpack under a post from another verified account with 161,000 followers.

The thread shared by the account included pro-Nazi posts that said "antisemites will save the world," and "Weimar problems require Weimar solutions" with the "Weimar problems" phrase painted in the colors of the LGBTQ rainbow flag. The Weimar Republic was a name used for Germany before Hitler rose to power with the Nazi regime.