Advertising sales on social media X, formerly known as Twitter, will grow in 2025 for the first time since Elon Musk acquired the platform in 2022. This is evidenced by the forecasts of the research company Emarketer, Bloomberg reports.
- According to the forecasts, in 2025 advertising sales in the United States on the X platform will reach $1.31 billion, which is 17.5% more than a year earlier. The company's global ad sales are estimated at $2.26 billion, up 16.5% from 2024.
- Analysts attribute the return of advertisers to the fact that Musk has become an advisor to US President Donald Trump.
"Some of the spending growth is really being driven by fear as we’ve seen some of the big advertisers return in an effort to curry favor with the Trump administration," commented Emarketer Principal Analyst Jasmine Enberg.
- At the same time, she noted that it is too early to talk about the full recovery of X's advertising business, as it is not related to the improvement of the company's products or services.
Enberg also noted that some advertisers are returning to X due to potential legal consequences, as Musk has begun filing lawsuits against major brands that have stopped spending money on advertising on the social network.
X sales are still far from the 2021 high
However, Emarketer analysts do not expect X's advertising business to return to 2021 levels. According to the forecasts, the company's global advertising revenue will amount to $2.6 billion in 2027, which is sill 42% less than in 2021.
X's advertising business, which brings in most of the company's money, has been hit hard since Elon Musk bought the company.
He promised there would be more "free speech" on the platform, so he changed the approach to content moderation, including firing a large staff of moderators who made sure social media users didn't violate community rules.
This led to an exodus of advertisers concerned about placing ads next to controversial content.
The outflow increased sharply in late 2023, when Musk said "f*ck you" to advertisers who had declared a boycott of his social network.
