With promoting business veteran Linda Yaccarino now not CEO of X, the social platform’s technique to draw extra advert {dollars} is unclear. Advert forecasters see continued turbulence forward
Advertising and marketing intelligence agency WARC, as an illustration, forecasts X’s U.S. advert income will lower 5% to $522.5 million this 12 months, then drop once more in 2026.
Alex Brownsell, head of content material inside WARC’s media division, defined that whereas Yaccarino managed to gradual X’s speedy decline, she didn’t do sufficient to vary its trajectory.
“X’s promoting enterprise has endured a extremely difficult few years,” stated Brownsell. “In the end, Linda Yaccarino failed to show that round.”
Estimates from MediaRadar present X’s U.S. advert income fell 19% throughout the first half of 2025 in comparison with the primary half of 2024. The promoting intelligence platform expects this downward development to proceed.
“Whereas 2025 has seen a rise within the variety of corporations promoting on X, the rise is overwhelmingly made up of smaller, long-tail manufacturers versus the big-spending Fortune 1,000 advertisers X beforehand trusted for advert income progress,” stated Matt Krepsik, CEO of MediaRadar.
Regardless of X’s previous makes an attempt to courtroom extra small and medium-sized companies, Krepsik identified that small manufacturers haven’t offset the lack of main advertisers.
Not everybody, nevertheless, has a unfavorable outlook on X’s advert enterprise.
Market analysis agency eMarketer estimates U.S. advert spend on X will rise 25% to $1.4 billion in 2025. Minda Smiley, a senior analyst at eMarketer, famous this marks the platform’s first annual enhance in advert {dollars} since Elon Musk’s acquisition in 2022.
“The corporate has made some strides which have bolstered its advert income, like improving its advert platform and rolling out new options for entrepreneurs,” stated Smiley.
On the identical time, Smiley added, this progress isn’t essentially an indication of underlying well being, noting some manufacturers returned beneath authorized stress.
Following Yaccarino’s departure, together with Musk’s AI agency xAI buying the social platform in March, specialists additionally foresee a future the place X reduces its dependence on promoting for earnings.
“When X folded into xAI, it was a sign that subscription income was going to change into far more essential than advert income,” Lou Paskalis, chief technique officer of Advert Fontes Media, instructed ADWEEK.
By pushing into new areas, equivalent to internet hosting job postings and providing monetary companies via a partnership with Visa, X has taken steps to rework itself right into a so-called every little thing app beneath Musk’s possession.
“This strategic pivot indicators a shift within the firm’s id,” stated MediaRadar’s Krepsik. “Adverts should stay a big income driver, however this can be quick adopted by subscriptions and rising capabilities.”
