Marketers pulling back from X, says new Kantar report

Marketer confidence in X (formerly Twitter) declined significantly in the past year, driven by brand safety concerns and poor perceptions around innovation and trust, says Kantar’s Media Reactions 2024 report, an annual study which offers a comprehensive view of the evolving attitudes of marketers and consumers in response to the changing media landscape. The study is based on interviews with more than 18,000 consumers in 27 markets and 1,000 senior marketers globally.

The survey found that YouTube remains the ad platform marketers most prefer, while for consumers, Amazon and TikTok share the top spot. A net 26% of marketers have reported plans to reduce adspend on X in 2025, the biggest recorded pullback from any major global ad platform.

Marketers’ trust in adverts on X, traditionally low, has decreased further under Elon Musk’s leadership, from 22% in 2022 to 12% in 2024. Only 4% of marketers think adverts on X provide brand safety (in contrast to Google, which comes top for brand safety at 39%). X scores outside the global top 10 for trust and for the perception of how innovative advertising on the platform is. This contrasts with TikTok, the most innovative advertising publisher for the fifth consecutive year, and YouTube, the most trusted.

“Advertisers have been moving their marketing spend away from X for several years,” says Gonca Bubani, global thought leadership director: media at Kantar. “The stark acceleration of this trend in the past 12 months means a turnaround seems unlikely. Marketers are brand custodians and need to trust the platforms they use. X has changed so much in recent years and can be unpredictable from one day to the next – it’s difficult to feel confident about your brand safety in that environment. Ironically, decreasing spend by marketers on X will make consumers happier with the platform as they come face to face with fewer ads.”

This year Amazon and TikTok have tied for first place for consumer preference. Kantar’s research found that Amazon ads are perceived as being more relevant and useful, whereas TikTok ads are perceived as more fun. However, neither brand features in the top five ranking among marketers. 

Netflix measured by Kantar as an ad platform for the first time this year, achieves a top five position among both consumers and marketers, helped by its top three position for brand safety among marketers. YouTube has solidified its position as the top choice for marketers.

Kantar’s 2024 analysis shows that point-of-sale (PoS) ads hold the top spot, replacing sponsored events in terms of consumer preference. PoS ads are seen as particularly trustworthy and useful and don’t hold negative connotations such as being intrusive. Other favoured channels include cinema ads, sponsored events, newspaper ads and out-of-home advertising.

Other key findings from the 2024 survey reveal mixed attitudes towards generative AI, with 62% of consumers and 68% of marketers positive about GenAI more broadly, though the same feeling doesn’t yet extend to AI-generated advertising. While most marketers (71%) are not bothered by AI-generated ads, consumers are not so sure yet: two in five (41%) say AI-generated ads bother them.

Advertising receptivity among consumers has been growing for the past decade as marketers find thesweet spot for nascent formats through trial and error, with consumers becoming used to seeing adson more channels. Almost half of consumers (47%) are now receptive to adverts, up from only 24% in2020. The increase of nine percentage points on last year (38%) is the highest change since 2020.

The brands preferred by consumers vary significantly and there are some surprises: Gen Z prefer ads on Amazon, Facebook and Google, while millennials and Gen X prefer Snapchat. Older generations also welcome ads on TikTok, which appears in the top three among both Gen X and boomers.

“Campaigns which reach more receptive audiences are seven times more impactful,” says Bubani. “That’s why it’s so important for marketers to find the sweet spot between the right channel, the right media brand and the right format. To thrive in today’s fragmented environment, brands have to do more than understand shifting cultural and media dynamics – they need to care about their creative quality and make sure they’re customising it for the right environment. That means finding opportunities to stand out meaningfully, meet consumers in their diversity, and connect with audiences in more authentic and impactful ways."

The big take-out: YouTube is marketers' favourite ad platform for 2024 while Amazon and TikTok come out top among consumers