X discontinues its promotional account ads venture -Axios

Social media giant X, previously known as Twitter, has decided to stop allowing advertisers to use the platform’s timeline to promote their accounts and attract new followers. This change was reported by Axios, citing an email sent to advertising clients.

These promoted accounts, also referred to as “Follower Objective” ads, contribute over $100 million in global revenue for X each year, according to the report.

“Follower Objective” ads are a type of advertisement that enables a tweet to be shown on the timeline of users who aren’t following the advertiser’s account. These ads include a clickable “follow” button, making it convenient for users to become followers of that account. X claims that these ads provide a simple method to swiftly increase the number of followers.

Although the Follower Objective format remains mentioned as an advertising choice on X’s business website, a communication dated August 10, obtained by Axios, indicated that X intended to begin reducing the significance of the “Followers Objective” ad unit starting last week.

X has not provided an immediate response to a request for comment from Reuters.

Promoted follower ads have been a significant method for advertisers to engage with their audience and drive business on the platform. These ads help companies target specific groups of users.

Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X and a former advertising executive at NBCUniversal, has been working on reshaping the company’s image since taking over as CEO on June 5. Her efforts aim to attract back advertisers who had left the platform following changes made by Elon Musk. As a result of that, recently, X partnered with IAS and introduced new brand safety features, after losing more than half of its US ad revenue.