Twitter wants to lure back advertisers with free ads – WSJ

Many brands suspended campaigns on the platform after Elon Musk’s takeover

Twitter is offering free ad space to brands that run advertising campaigns on the platform, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing company emails.

According to the report, Twitter will match the funds brands spend on their ads, with two conditions. First, the spending must not exceed $250,000. Second, the full volume of ads including Twitter’s incentive – up to $500,000 in total – must run by February 28.

Last month, media reported of a similar action by the platform, that time offering to match up to $500,000 in ad spending if the ads ran by the end of the year.

Twitter has not yet commented on the report. The platform began losing advertisers shortly after Elon Musk took over at the end of October, with brands wary of his approach to content moderation and other changes he brought to the platform. The companies which suspended ad spending include General Motors, Pfizer, United Airlines, Mondelez, Volkswagen, Chevrolet, Ford and Jeep. Musk said at the time that due to their exit, the platform had suffered “a massive drop in revenue” and was losing $4 million daily.

As of January 8, less than 25 of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers continued to run ads on the platform, according to data from research firm Sensor Tower.

Analysts note that it is vital for the company to win back advertisers, given that most of Twitter’s revenue comes from ads. In 2021, this figure stood at $5.1 billion, or roughly 90% of the total.