It is no secret that Elon Musk‘s purchase of Twitter, now X, has been controversial, to say the least. And the controversy continues to this day at the social media giant. In fact, new reports suggest that advertisers are considering a large-scale pull-out of spending on the social media platform.
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X’s increasing and visible commitment to freedom of speech has not endeared it to advertisers, reports note, who are themselves increasingly concerned about having their brands seen in conjunction with “extreme content.” Based on a report from analytics group Kantar, 26% of surveyed marketers were planning to cut their ad spend on the platform.
This risk has been brewing ever since Musk and a coterie of investors put in $44 billion to take over Twitter in 2022. Only 4% of marketers could claim that advertising on X was “brand safe,” while 39% could say likewise for Google. However, X’s own figures noted that its brand safety rate was “…on average 99% as validated by DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science.” The perception, however, may be guiding whether or not advertisers sign the checks.
A New Venue for X
However, X may have a trick up its sleeve to keep advertisers in play: a new platform on which to advertise. More specifically, it is a dedicated tool for viewing videos. X is already courting some of the major names in online video, including MrBeast, the YouTube star who has been having some issues of his own on the platform of late.
With current X CEO Linda Yaccarino noting that X is becoming a “video first” platform, such a tool could represent a new paradigm for X. It also may be an effective competitor against YouTube, especially given the growing discontent among content creators on the platform for a variety of reasons ranging from discovery to poor compensation. X, with its built-in user base, might be just the YouTube killer that some have been looking for.
What Is the Forecast for Tesla?
Turning to Wall Street, it is currently not possible for the average person to invest in X, as it is not publicly traded. However, you can invest in Tesla (TSLA), another Elon Musk venture, in which analysts have a Hold consensus rating on based on 10 Buys, 14 Holds, and seven Sells assigned in the past three months. After a 9.26% loss in its share price over the past year, the average TSLA price target of $211.46 per share implies 7.52% downside risk.
