X signs partnership with PubMatic to boost ad revenue

Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) has signed a new partnership with programmatic advertising technology company PubMatic in an effort to boost ad revenue for the social media platform. 

As part of the partnership, PubMatic will become an authorised seller of X’s ads and will look at outside companies to help boost ad revenue—according to a report by Business Insider. 

Since Musk’s acquisition of X in 2022, the social media platform has struggled to retain users and attract advertisers due to controversies over content moderation and brand safety. 

WARC recently reported that X’s ad revenue dropped by almost half (46.4%) between 2022 and 2023—from $4.5 billion to $2.2 billion year-on-year. This decline is forecast to continue with revenue in 2024 predicted to come in at $2 billion and below that in 2025.

X filed a lawsuit in August against the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) over an alleged "illegal boycott." However, it has since made a settlement with Unilever—although it is continuing to pursue the lawsuit against advertisers—and the partnership with PubMatic will help X access a broader pool of advertisers. 

By partnering with X, PubMatic has the chance to become a standout company in 2025 if the collaboration is a success. Following the partnership announcement, the stock price for PubMatic went up by 5.52% on the day of the news. 

PubMatic works with a number of website, app, e-commerce, and streaming-TV publishers to generate revenue from advertising. The supply-side platform recently announced a new partnership with Roblox to scale the platform’s programmatic video offering. 

Kyle Dozeman, PubMatic chief revenue officer for the Americas, said: “We are excited to pioneer this new kind of advertising experience with Roblox and help establish industry standards around 3D media units.

“[The company] look[s] forward to scaling Roblox’s programmatic video offering with the demand that will come through future DSP partners.”

This article first appeared on Performance Marketing World.