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Major advertising clients such as UBS and Swiss Post have reduced their advertising commitments to text messaging service X (formerly Twitter). This was the result of a survey conducted by Handelszeitung among twenty well-known companies. For example, the Post explained, “We are no longer showing ads on Twitter/X since December 2022.”
Something similar can be heard from the UBS environment. Private bank Julius Baer also announced that it has not placed advertisements on its short message service since 2022, and Swiss Life has phased out its advertising activities this year.
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This article was first published on the paid service of handelszeitung.ch. Blick+ users have exclusive access as part of their subscription. You can find more exciting articles at www.handelszeitung.ch.
Overall, Twitter and X have always played a smaller role for Swiss advertising clients compared to countries like Germany; Now the few Swiss customers that X still has are reducing their loyalty even further. Insurance company Zurich announced that it has stopped advertising on X “for some time.”
X loses weight worldwide
A strong wind is blowing on the platform, which Elon Musk bought for 44 billion dollars in October 2022. According to a survey by the German “Handelsblatt”, eight companies included in Germany’s leading index DAX, including Allianz, BASF and Mercedes, have stopped advertising on X. Five other companies, including Volkswagen, suspended advertising on the X for a year.
More and more companies are also withdrawing from the US, such as Apple, IBM and Disney. X owner Elon Musk had a rather undiplomatic reaction to their announcement: “Go fuck yourself!” after companies canceling their ads. yell.
The reason for withdrawal is concern for your own brand. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, posts are less moderated for racist content and fake news. X is becoming a playground for climate deniers, anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists, not an environment where companies want to see their brands.
«We see more and more companies critically questioning their advertising activities on X. They are unsure whether their ads will continue to appear in an ad environment that suits their brand,” says Joël Meier, Director of Advertising at Webrepublic. “This question has been coming up more and more since Elon Musk took over the platform.”
Swiss retailers rely on other channels
Unlike Germany and the USA, he is co-owner of the Zurich communications agency Bernet and co-editor of the biannual study “Social Media in Institutions and Companies” in Switzerland.
The biggest advertising clients in Switzerland are large retailers such as Migros and Coop. Both cooperative groups say they have never run ads on Twitter/X and have no plans to do so in the future. Aldi Suisse, Lidl Switzerland and Denner also make the same statements. However, in Germany, Aldi Nord does not want to leave Platform X completely until the beginning of next year.
Online stores and service providers advertise on X
But there are exceptions, especially in the tech sector: After Musk took over Twitter, Swisscom initially halted advertising operations for three months, only to restart them “carefully,” as the company announced. “X/Twitter is still a relevant channel for users on certain topics and is therefore also interesting for us as an advertising channel,” says Swisscom.
Competition Group, which includes online retailer Brack.ch, has also “made scattered advertising of X this year, particularly in the gaming space”, a spokesman said. No advertising measures are currently planned for 2024. Migros subsidiary Digitec Galaxus remains loyal to X, even if volume remains small: “We currently invest only a minimal part of our advertising budget on advertising on There are no plans to limit advertising activities to X in 2024. But even for Digitec Galaxus, X or Twitter was never a particularly important advertising channel; Other social media such as Meta (Facebook), Tiktok, Twitch and Google are more important.
Relevance of the platform
Has X become irrelevant? Webrepublic’s Joël Meier doesn’t want to delete the platform completely. Reaching out to rich people is still relevant. According to him, X currently has 1.7 million users in Switzerland.
Additionally, companies continue to use Platform X as a fast communication channel. SBB and Switzerland use the platform to inform customers about delays or outages, for example. “This information is greatly appreciated,” SBB said. But Swiss railways have also stopped advertising on X for several years, and Switzerland says it has never done so.
The exodus of advertising customers is particularly unpleasant for Elon Musk because X is constantly losing value. In May, a stock market disclosure by X-Co shareholder Fidelity announced that the platform had lost nearly two-thirds of its value since Musk’s takeover and is now worth just under $15 billion. Its value has likely fallen even further since then.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
