Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, tweeted on Saturday that the social media platform’s more premium membership does not include ads.
Ads are too frequent on Twitter and too big. Taking steps to address both in coming weeks.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2023
The billionaire said that Twitter’s advertising are “too huge” and “too frequent,” and that in the upcoming weeks, measures would be made to remedy such problems.
Also, there will be a higher priced subscription that allows zero ads
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 21, 2023
A request for comment form Twitter did not immediately receive a reply.
Nearly 90% of Twitter’s income comes from the sale of digital adverts, and Musk recently blamed a “huge loss in revenue” on rights groups who persuaded companies to suspend their Twitter advertising.
By 2023, Twitter will provide a higher tier with no adverts, according to a statement made by Musk earlier in December. Twitter’s Basic blue tick would have half as many ads, according to Musk.
Revenue drop after Musk takeover
According to estimates provided for Reuters by research firm Pathmatics, top Twitter advertisers cut their spending following Elon Musk’s acquisition, the latest jolt to the company’s primary revenue stream.
According to Pathmatics estimates, 14 of the top 30 Twitter advertisers suspended all advertising on the service when Musk assumed leadership on October 27. From the week before Musk’s acquisition to the end of the year, four advertisers cut their expenditure by between 92% and 98.7%.
Despite an increase in expenditure by six of the top 30, overall advertising spending by the top 30 businesses plummeted by 42% to an estimated $53.8 million for November and December combined, according to Pathmatics.
However, the corporation said that those estimations did not take into consideration any potential Twitter transactions or promoted trends and accounts. If Twitter is providing incentives, “it is feasible the spending statistics may be greater for some businesses,” Pathmatics wrote in an email.
On a total revenue of around $1.18 billion for the three months that ended June 30, Twitter reported a loss of $270 million.