Advertisers are increasingly shifting their marketing budgets towards TikTok as confidence in Elon Musk's platform, X, wanes.
A significant 77% of marketers are set to increase their advertising spend on TikTok in 2024, signalling the platform's escalating appeal to businesses, according to recent figures from Kantar.
In stark contrast, a mere 14% intend to cut their ad budgets on X, as the site struggles with a damaged reputation among the advertising community. Last year, only 6% of marketers planned to up their investment in the platform then known as Twitter.
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This change in advertiser sentiment occurs as X, steered by Musk, has initiated a "war" against marketers who have pulled out from the social media site.
X recently launched an antitrust lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), hinting at possible "criminal liability via the RICO Act," legislation originally aimed at tackling organised crime, as reported by .
The legal action, which alleges that the supposed boycott has cost X billions in ad revenue, accuses GARM of leading a "systematic illegal boycott" of the platform.
Following this, the WFA has declared it will shut down GARM operations due to insufficient funds to continue the legal battle against Musk.
The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) stated on Friday: "GARM is a small, not-for-profit initiative, and recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances,".
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However, Jane Ostler from Kantar questioned the nature of the situation at X. She asked whether it truly represents a boycott or merely mirrors a wider decline in marketer confidence.
"Marketers' perceptions of X are that it is neither particularly trustworthy nor innovative; two hurdles it needs to overcome to win back media spend from advertisers," she commented.
In contrast, TikTok is capitalising on the advertiser exodus. The platform recently informed City AM of a 25% revenue surge following the launch of a campaign featuring GB athletes during the Olympics, attributing this to increased advertiser spending during this period.
Blake Chandlee, president of global business solutions at TikTok, recently noted that the platform's business is "growing faster year-over-year now than we were last year."
As X faces increasing legal and reputational challenges, Elon Musk plans to livestream a conversation with former US President Donald Trump on X Spaces, promising "entertainment guaranteed". The unrestricted discussion is scheduled for 8pm ET (00:00 GMT) on Monday.
City AM has reached out to X for comment.