LinkedIn ad revenue rises as advertisers leave Elon Musk's X

SAN FRANCISCO: Professional networking platform LinkedIn is raking in ad revenue as Elon Musk-run X continues to lose advertising revenue.

According to the research group Insider Intelligence, annual advertising revenues at the Microsoft-owned company increased to nearly $4 billion in 2023, up 10.1 per cent (year-on-year) and also predicted further growth of 14.1 per cent in 2024.

As per marketing agency executives and advertising industry insiders, the prices of LinkedIn ads are rising due to increased demand from advertisers, as these ads are sold via auction and their prices are determined by market demand, reports Financial Times.

One executive mentioned that in some cases, prices have grown as much as 30 per cent over the past year.

According to the report, citing sources, LinkedIn was reaping the benefits of introducing ways to better target its one billion users as big brands increasingly leave X.

"This is LinkedIn season. Most have switched over to LinkedIn over the past year. A few weeks ago most of our clients were off X. Now they are all off X," Leesha Anderson, the vice-president of digital marketing and social media at Outcast ad agency, was quoted as saying.

Earlier this month, Musk said that Disney CEO Bob Iger should be fired immediately after the entertainment giant pulled advertisements from X as its owner endorsed antisemitic conspiracy theory on his platform.

At The New York Times' DealBook Summit last month, Musk had singled out Iger, ranting against the Disney CEO. "What this advertising boycott is going to do is kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail," he told the audience.

Companies that have paused or pulled advertising on X in the last few weeks include Apple, Comcast/NBCUniversal, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, IBM, Paramount Global, Lionsgate and the European Commission, as Musk promoted anti-Semitic content on X.