Former Dentsu chairman Nick Waters has claimed that top brands are shying away from advertising on Twitter due to growing fears of a public backlash.
Concerns over the social media platform’s direction had been growing since it was bought by controversial businessman Elon Musk for £38 billion in October.
Waters, who is now the CEO of brand consultancy Ebiquity has said that the majority of his firm’s clients have elected to step back from advertising on Twitter for the foreseeable future, adding: “I can hardly think of a client of ours who has supported Twitter through this.”
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He went out to point out that most ad agencies are for now advising their clients to ‘cut ties’ until more clarification over the platform’s content moderation is forthcoming, citing deepening worries over brand reputation. Global holding group Omnicom, which works with major international companies such as McDonald’s, Apple and Pepsi, has warned its clients to pause activity on the site, amid ‘serious concerns over brand safety’.
Following reports that over 500 advertisers have paused spending on Twitter, the social media site’s revenue’s are said to be 40% down on this time last year.
Last week, Musk apologised to Twitters users for the frequency of “irrelevant & annoying ads”, adding that the platform would be taking “corrective action” to improve “contextual relevance dramatically.”
