Twitter Is Offering Free Ads to Bring Advertisers Back

Since Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, the social media giant has been bleeding advertisers. The Wall Street Journal reports that Twitter seeks to bring business back by offering free ad space.

The WSJ cites emails it reviewed in which Twitter said it would match ad spending to the tune of $250,000, with the catch that the full half-million dollars worth of ads run by the end of February.

While Twitter has yet to comment, the deal is consistent with other efforts to stimulate ad revenue on the platform. Here’s more from WSJ:

The incentives are the latest effort by the company to get brands to spend on its platform. Recently, Twitter offered advertisers $500,000 in free ads as long as they spent at least $500,000.

Ad buyers said that the incentive could be used to buy promoted tweets that run during Super Bowl week, a key selling period for Twitter. Advertisers in recent years have flocked to Twitter during the Super Bowl to generate buzz around their big game marketing efforts. The Super Bowl is Twitter’s biggest revenue day of the year, the Journal has reported.

Twitter began losing money shortly after Musk took over. As early as November, Musk stated that the company was losing millions daily, as advertisers indicated they were concerned about changes in site moderation and the nature of content Musk might allow on the platform.

Companies that take an interest in the new fund-matching promotion will be required to use Twitter’s tools, including a feature that will allow advertisers to compile keyword lists that will provide a buffer between ads and undesirable tweets.

As the Wall Street Journal notes, convincing advertisers to return is vital, considering that the majority of Twitter’s 2021 revenue — $5.1 billion — came from ads.