Major advertisers such as Apple and Amazon are beginning to show confidence in Elon Musk’s management of Twitter and are committing to advertising with the app again.
Key Details
- SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk took over Twitter as the owner and CEO on October 27 and oversaw a chaotic few weeks as the company fired staff, rewrote the verification system, and began reinstating banned accounts like former President Donald Trump.
- Twitter’s advertising revenue dropped 80% in November as companies saw the platform as unstable and not brand-safe and dropped ads.
- Major advertisers like Amazon and Apple are now returning—citing improvements and “security tweaks.” Amazon reportedly plans to spend $100 million annually on advertising with Twitter.
- Musk smoothed over concerns with Apple CEO Tim Cook during a visit to the company headquarters on November 30, and now the company has “fully resumed” advertising again.
Why it’s News
Musk addressed the ongoing feud between Twitter and Apple in a two-hour Twitter Spaces conversation on Saturday with an audience of over 90,000 users. He said that both companies resolved a misunderstanding as he believed Twitter was being threatened with being removed from Apple’s App Store, which would’ve been a major threat to the company’s bottom line without the ability to access the social media network easily through phones.
“Musk blasted Apple last week, saying the maker of iPhones and Mac computers had mostly stopped advertising on Twitter and had threatened to withhold the site from its App Store. In taking aim at Apple, Musk risked war with the world’s most valuable company and a top advertiser at a time when other companies were pulling their advertising from Twitter,” says Fortune.
Musk tweeted Saturday, “Just a note to thank advertisers for returning to Twitter.”
Backing up a Bit
Many other advertisers such as General Mills and Pfizer have continued to pause or hold advertising for the meantime.
Twitter began reaching out to other advertisers again on Thursday and offering incentive packages to companies willing to return to the platform, offering $500,000 in price-matched incremental spending, effectively giving companies up to $1 million in advertising for half the price, newsletter Marketing Brew reports.
