Musk's Twitter Follies: Alienating Advertisers and Pushing Profits Down Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is making waves once again, this time in
the advertising world. Recent controversies surrounding Musk's attitudes on race have caused concern among top marketing executives, impacting Twitter's ad business. But despite the challenges he faces, Musk is exploring various options to improve Twitter's profitability, including building a subscription news business and implementing haphazard policies, often driven by childish inhibitions. Follow the latest on Musk's antics and their impact on advertising on Twitter..
Elon Musk, the eccentric billionaire and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is making headlines once again as he prepares to attend the upcoming MMA Global conference in Miami. This digital marketing trade association conference will
provide Musk with an opportunity to address some of the top marketing executives in America, as he seeks to mollify advertisers in the wake of recent controversies. Semafor, an anonymous online activist group, recently obtained leaked emails among some of America’s top marketing executives expressing concern over Musk’s attitudes on race. In particular, McDonald’s Chief Marketing and
Customer Experience Officer, Tariq Hassan, described Musk’s acquisition of Twitter as “a situation post-acquisition that objectively can only be characterized as ranging from chaos to moments of irresponsibility.” Hassan went on to state that “for many communities, his willingness to leverage success and personal financial resources to further an agenda under the guise of freedom of speech is perpetuating racism resulting [in] direct threats to their communities and a potential for brand safety
compromise we should all be concerned about.” Hassan was not alone in expressing these concerns, as Colgate-Palmolive’s Vice President and General Manager of Consumer Experience and Growth, along with several other high-level marketing executives, also weighed in on the matter. Their comments highlight the ongoing controversy surrounding Musk’s outspoken conservative political views and
occasional direct attacks on his customers, which have severely impacted Twitter’s ad business. In fact, Musk has acknowledged that many top advertisers have paused advertising since he took over, resulting in a steep decline in revenue. Despite the challenges he faces, Musk has been exploring various options to improve Twitter’s profitability, including advertising, tiered subscriptions,
paid content, and other conventional methods. However, he has also been focused on building a subscription news business to rival Substack, which he reportedly values at a staggering $585 million. While Musk’s interest in Substack may indicate a desire to compete or force the newsletter company to sell to him, its best outcome would represent only a small fraction of the $5 billion in ad revenue Twitter generated in 2021. Musk’s recent moves on Twitter have only served to further complicate matters. He recently removed The New York Times’ verification badge and applied "government-funded" warning labels to the accounts of NPR and the BBC, leading to backlash from the outlets. Meanwhile, Musk nonchalantly announced over the weekend that Twitter will no longer limit the reach of state-controlled outlets such as Russia’s RT and China’s Xinhua News, citing the idea that “all news
is to some degree propaganda,” and insisting that people should be allowed to decide for themselves. This decision, along with Musk’s implementation of policies that severely limited the reach of Substack articles, has only added to the chaos on the platform. By blurring the lines between authoritative sources of news and outright propaganda, Musk is making it increasingly difficult for news
organizations to navigate the already tumultuous social media landscape. Despite the turmoil and controversy, many news organizations are continuing to advertise on Twitter. Musk paid $44 billion for the platform just last year, but has already conceded that more than half the value has been eviscerated under his leadership. He should be concerned about the destruction of Twitter, not just
because of the role it plays in worldwide communications, but also because it carries serious financial implications. Instead of focusing on reestablishing trust with the public, Musk continues to wreak havoc, carrying out childish acts such as painting over the "w" on the logo adorning Twitter's San Francisco headquarters to make it read "Titter." Under Musk’s leadership, Twitter has
morphed into something else, twisted by the billionaire’s ego and whims into a warped version of its former self. He has implemented haphazard policies, often driven by childish inhibitions,and has been dismissive of the concerns of top advertisers and marketing executives, which has led to a decline in revenue and raised questions about the long-term viability of the platform. It remains to
be seen whether Musk’s upcoming appearance at the MMA Global conference will do anything to allay the concerns of advertisers and marketers. Some have suggested that Musk may use the opportunity to announce new initiatives aimed at improving Twitter’s profitability and addressing the concerns raised by top marketing executives. Others, however, remain skeptical, pointing to Musk’s history of making grandiose statements and failing to deliver on his promises. One thing is clear: Musk’s leadership of Twitter has been controversial and chaotic, with serious implications for both the platform and the wider world of digital marketing. As the MMA Global conference approaches, many will be watching closely to see what Musk has to say, and whether he can begin to repair the damage that has been done. |
All the news you need today, in a format that isn't TL:DR, summarized for the busy executive.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is raising new legal challenges, such as software malfunctions in self-driving cars and concerns about intellectual property rights for authors of texts used to train AI systems like ChatGPT. These issues were recently discussed at a WORLD.MINDS forum, where lawyer John B.
Quinn participated. A letter signed by 1,100 people, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, called for a six-month moratorium on training AI systems beyond GPT-4, citing concerns about the potential for sentient AI systems. The risks associated with powerful AI systems include misdiagnosis in medicine, pandemics resulting from genetically-engineered viruses, weapon control, and the creation of fake scientific results that harm our quality of life. Blockchain infrastructure startup LayerZero has raised $120 million in a Series B funding round, valuing the company at $3 billion. The funding round saw participation from 33 investors, including Andreessen Horowitz's crypto arm, Sequoia Capital, Circle Ventures, and OpenSea Ventures. LayerZero's software enables different blockchains to communicate and become more compatible. This
funding round is one of the largest announced crypto startup funding rounds since the FTX collapse, and it follows a trend of investors flocking to back-end blockchain software startups since last year's crypto market collapse. The significant valuation increase is notable, given that it is no longer common for crypto startups to experience big valuation jumps. A year ago, LayerZero was valued at $1 billion in its Series A funding round. The NCAA and Power Five conferences are facing a $1 billion lawsuit over retroactive educational payments for college athletes from 2018-2020. The lawsuit was filed by attorneys representing two former college athletes who won the Alston case in June 2021, which allowed college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness. The plaintiffs are seeking damages of at least $200 million
and as much as $1 billion for the class of affected athletes. The next steps in the case involve determining NIL figures from schools and a class certification hearing in September. Despite the recent success of NCAA sports, Winston & Strawn co-executive chairman Jeffrey L. Kessler believes that the NCAA and its various sports owe the affected athletes retroactive payments. Microsoft has announced several updates to its Ads Suite, including the availability of Professional Service Ads worldwide, which is good news for industries such as real estate, tax services, and home services. The ads will appear vertically on the right-hand side of the search engine results page. Microsoft also announced two more updates to its Ads Suite, including bulk management in the Asset Library and the ability to view and edit the current
target bid value within the campaign grid when applying automated bidding. All campaigns will be upgraded to Enhanced CPC, and all broad match modifier keywords for Search Ads will serve as broad matches instead of phrase matches. These updates make managing Microsoft Ads easier and provide service businesses with another channel for reaching their target audience. NBCUniversal has announced that advertising sales for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics are outpacing the previous Tokyo Summer Games. The announcement was made by Dan Lovinger, president of Olympics/LA 2028 Ad and Sponsorship Sales for NBCUniversal, who said that they are “pacing well ahead at the same point in time of the recent summer games in Tokyo.” Although Lovinger did not provide specific details about pricing or new advertisers, he expressed confidence in
the marketplace for the Paris event, citing support from multi-year Olympic sponsorship "ring holders" and previous success with LA Summer Olympics 2028 sponsorships. While the national TV advertising market has faced challenges in recent quarters, Lovinger believes the Paris Olympics offer a better outlook than the Asia-based Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 and Tokyo Summer Olympics 2021, which faced time-zone issues and pandemic-related disruptions. The Tokyo Summer Olympics earned $1.76 billion
in advertising revenue for NBCUniversal in 2021, while the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 earned $1.25 billion for the media company. Chicken Soup for the Soul, the growing advertising-video on demand (AVOD) company, has launched an advertising-selling platform called Crackle Connex. The platform will tap into over 80 million monthly
active users across all its owned and partner platforms, including the Crackle streaming service, Redbox, its Chicken Soup of the Soul streaming platform, and 20 third-party video streaming partners. The new unit will also include a Branded Content Studio and an in-house production studio. Chicken Soup for the Soul's AVOD/FAST networks provide over 70,000 free movies and TV shows and 160 FAST channels. Philippe Guelton, chief revenue officer of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment and Crackle
Connex, will head up the unit. |
You're looking for an edge in your online marketing.
Interest: ADOTAT.com is the answer. Our library of resources has been compiled by some
of the world's top internet marketing experts, and it's constantly updated with new information, case studies, and strategies.
We want to help you succeed online - that's why we offer this information for free. It's our way of giving back to the community and helping people achieve their business goals.
Sign up now and gain access to our entire library of resources!
Want to advertise? Contact pesach@lattin.us |
|
|
DIVERSIFYING MEDIA MIXES: A SURPRISING SOLUTION TO DATA ACQUISITION As the world becomes increasingly digital, businesses are facing unprecedented challenges in balancing privacy and personalization. The great migration to first-party data has encountered some bumps in the road, as consumers are becoming more reluctant to share sensitive personal information unless they see a clear benefit in return. This was the main takeaway from a recent Gartner CMO research, which
surveyed nearly 400 marketing professionals in November and December of last year. READ ENTIRE STORY
THE PRICE OF A ‘GOOD DEAL’: AD FRAUD IN THE DIGITAL AGE. But here’s the thing – people don’t care about ad fraud because they want to get “good deals.” Just like how people want to buy cheap counterfeit handbags, advertisers want to buy low-cost ads. They don’t care if the ads are fake or if they’re not shown to actual humans – as long as they get to show off their large quantities of impressions and clicks to their bosses. READ THE FULL ARTICLE
COLLABORATION IS KEY: UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF FIRST- AND SECOND-PARTY DATA
STRATEGIES
The age of relying on third-party data for media buying may be coming to a close, but don't count out the power of collaboration just yet. Data clean rooms (DCRs) have emerged as a popular avenue for brands to uncover valuable insights, but they're not the end-all-be-all solution to marketing strategies in the face of a looming recession. While a DCR can help match audiences and allow brands to... READ MORE
FROM COUCH POTATOES TO CONVERSIONS: THE POWER OF CTV ADVERTISING
Connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top TV (OTT) advertising have taken the marketing world by storm, providing brands with a powerful new tool to reach their target audiences. With many advantages over traditional TV advertising, CTV and OTT have become a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about setting up and measuring CTV ad campaigns, from how it works to the key considerations for advertisers.
READ MORE NOW |
|
