X is in an extremely difficult situation.

X, formerly Twitter, could lose up to $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of this year after dozens of major brands paused advertising campaigns. Internal documents accessed by The New York Times show that the company is in an extremely difficult situation due to concerns surrounding Elon Musk and his management style. Currently, more than 200 advertising units of companies such as Airbnb, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Microsoft… have paused or are considering pausing advertising on social network X.

According to The New York Times, the advertising freeze took place throughout the last months of the year, while in the past, this quarter was always considered the most effective period when brands stepped up advertising campaigns. , big promotion. Before being taken over by Elon Musk, 90% of X’s revenue came from advertising.

However, after the billionaire acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year, the amount of harmful and offensive content appeared increasingly. Now CEO Linda Yaccarino is trying to attract potential advertisers again, while X runs multiple advertising campaigns during the holiday season to try to make up for the lack of revenue.

Currently, more than 100 brands are said to have “completely paused” advertising on X while dozens of other brands are “at risk” of leaving the platform. Many brands decided to stop collaborating on November 15 – the day Elon Musk made a controversial statement about Jews.

Leesha Anderson, vice president of digital marketing and social media at advertising agency Outcast, said their clients consistently stopped spending on X after Elon Musk took over. LinkedIn and TikTok are two of the alternative platforms.

“Currently, brands have many choices to accurately target advertising audiences. Social platforms are required to be meticulous because they are under public scrutiny,” said Ms. Leesha Anderson.

According to documents, many companies have temporarily stopped advertising on X, of which Airbnb cut more than $1 million in advertising. Uber also stopped implementing a campaign worth more than $800,000 as a way to protest Musk’s ‘unruly’ policy.

Additionally, Jack in the Box, Coca-Cola and Netflix, also decided to turn their backs on the social media platform. It is estimated that Netflix’s paused ads are worth nearly $3 million. Jack in the Box, Coca-Cola and Netflix are currently not providing any comments.

The fact that many other Microsoft subsidiaries temporarily stopped advertising puts X at risk of losing more than $4 million in revenue in the fourth quarter. Amazon’s book and music units and a Google subsidiary also made similar moves.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press” program, Republican US presidential candidate Chris Christie called Elon Musk’s comments a wave of “outrageous hatred”. Before Mr. Christie appeared, a super PAC (Super Political Action Committee) supporting him called Tell It Like It Is, withdrew its advertising from X.

It is known that the number of monthly active users of X decreased by 14.8% globally and 17.8% in the US in September. The average daily time per user accessing Notably, the number of people who stopped using this application increased by more than 30% in September.

Engagement metrics have plummeted, while global app downloads dropped 38% between October 2022 and September 2023.

Previously, Elon Musk wanted to convert X’s business form from advertising to paid subscriptions. However, until now, the company has only convinced less than 1% of users to sign up for its premium monthly service, according to Bloomberg estimates.

Insider Intelligence estimates that X’s advertising revenue will only reach 1.89 billion USD this year, down 54% compared to 2022 (4.12 billion USD). The last time X’s advertising revenue was close to this level was in September 2015 ($1.99 billion).

“Twitter’s cultural relevance had already begun to decline before Musk took over. Looks like this platform no longer exists. It’s an ending of a thousand cuts, all self-inflicted wounds,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg.

Earlier this week, Mr. Musk took time to ‘honor’ companies that continue to advertise on X, including the National Football League. Using a heart emoji, the billionaire owner of X said he absolutely loves the N.F.L.

Mr. Musk also noted that the company will use “all advertising and subscription revenue related to the Gaza war to hospitals in Israel and the Red Cross. Following in her boss’s footsteps, Ms. Yaccarino also added to the post with the call: “Lean in and help.”