2023 marked the year that Twitter truly died.
X (formerly Twitter) advertisement earnings are projected to drop on a year-to-year basis as 2023 closes following a mass exodus of advertisers in the platform.
The social media platform is expected to bring in roughly $2.5 billion in advertising profits by the end of the year, over 60% drop from its revenues last year, Bloomberg reported.
X could only net $600 million in ad revenue in each of the first three quarters of the year, far from the $1 billion per quarter reported in 2022.
Executives previously targeted to gross $3 billion in advertisements but have fallen short over the past month. X has previously relied on advertisements for the 70% of its total revenues.
X Loses Advertiser Profits Over Content Management Controversies
Elon Musk first reported that the platform lost "roughly 50%" of its original ad revenues early in March, a few months after the billionaire took over the social media.
By September, the estimates grew to a 60% loss from the US market.
The profit outlook is far from the $7.5 billion revenue goal former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey set for the end of 2023. Twitter earned $5 billion total in revenue before Musk bought it for $44 billion.
Musk's recent behaviors only further sealed the deal as more advertisers left the platform that is now populated with antisemitic and pro-Nazi posts. Musk himself shared a similar post on his main account.
In response, the billionaire hurled profanities against advertisers during an interview this month. Many companies swore to never come back on the site with Musk as its head.
Related Article : Advertisers Will No Longer Return to X After Elon Musk's Latest Insult
X Outlook for 2024: The Good, the Bad, the Worse
While the social media site had indeed cut expenses when Musk took over, so did its profits and audience.
Since Musk bought the platform in October last year, the former social media giant has lost 13% of its daily app users. Estimates indicate that another 3.9% drop in the total user base will be recorded for 2023.
The subscription service, X Premium, the billionaire launched was only able to rack in less than $120 million annually, according to external estimates.
During the DealBook conference last month, Musk admitted that he fears the recent controversies on the platform and ad revenue decline may cause the company to fail ultimately.
