Survey Finds 26% of Marketers Will Reduce Ad Spend on X

Advertisers are increasingly distancing themselves from Elon Musk’s social network X, with many planning to cut their ad spending on the platform by 2025. According to a recent report by marketing analytics firm Kantar (based on 1000 senior marketers and 18,000 consumers across 28 markets), trust in X among marketers has plummeted, with only 12% expressing confidence in the platform’s ability to protect their brand image. This is down from 22% in 2022.

The decline in trust stems from concerns over the platform’s content environment, which has become a breeding ground for controversial and harmful content, including propaganda, racism, and sexism. This was the same reason for the ban in Brazil two weeks ago. These issues, compounded by Musk’s unpredictable leadership style, have made it challenging for brands to maintain their reputation when advertising on X.

As a result, major advertisers are shifting their budgets to other platforms where brand safety is more assured. YouTube, Instagram, Google, Netflix, and Spotify are now the preferred destinations for ad spend, as they offer a more controlled and reliable environment for brand messaging. Additionally, consumers themselves are showing a preference for advertising on platforms like Amazon, TikTok, and Instagram, further eroding X’s attractiveness to advertisers.

While X still has a massive user base and many willing advertisers, this reduced trust could be a semi-permanent shift in the balance of the internet’s biggest social media platforms. While advertising was already slowly diverting to other platforms, this sudden acceleration requires some rapid adaptation from advertisers to create content for new platforms, and will naturally have a large impact on X itself.