Twitter revenue will plunge 28% in 2023, study finds

(San Francisco) Twitter’s annual revenue is expected to plunge by nearly a third this year, according to forecasts released Tuesday by a consulting firm, due to the rift between the brands and Elon Musk, owner of the platform since late October. .

The San Francisco company, which derives most of its revenue from advertising, is set to earn less than $3 billion in 2023, down from $4.14 billion in 2022, or 28% less, according to Insider Intelligence.

“The biggest problem is that advertisers don’t trust Musk,” said analyst Jasmine Enberg, quoted in a press release.

“ Twitter must manage to separate the perception of Musk and his personal brand image from that of the company to regain their confidence and bring them back ”, she adds.

In the summer of 2022, after the proposed takeover of the social network by the boss of Tesla, and the first twists, Insider Intelligence had already revised down its forecast for 2023, to 4.74 billion.

The experts then still counted on growth for the blue bird platform. But since then, the economic context has deteriorated and many predictions about the flight of advertisers have come to fruition.

Elon Musk has relaxed content moderation, essential for creating an environment considered “safe” by brands, who do not want to be associated with so-called “toxic” content.

The boss laid off with a vengeance, reducing the group’s workforce from 7,500 to less than 2,000 employees. And he let back many users who had been banned because of hateful or misinformation messages.

According to Pathmatics, by January half of the top 30 advertisers on Twitter had stopped buying advertising space there since the takeover at the end of October.

Brands are reluctant to spend on a platform “ where chaos, arbitrary changes and uncertainty reign ”, explains Jasmine Enberg.

She does not think that the new “ Twitter Blue ” subscription will compensate for the loss of income.

“The blue tick is no longer a guarantee of credibility”, since anyone can pay for it, notes the analyst.

“It represents having influence on a platform whose cultural relevance is deteriorating, and support for Musk. Individuals and organizations that had previously been authenticated have no reason to pay, and many users don’t want to appear to support Musk.”

The multi-billionaire is scheduled to speak at a conference of marketing professionals in Miami on April 18.