X Courts Advertisers by Accepting Rivals' Leftovers

In a bid to recapture lost ad dollars, X is rolling out a new, pragmatic strategy: letting brands directly recycle their ad campaigns from Meta, Google, and TikTok. The feature, designed to eliminate production hurdles, allows advertisers to upload video, images, and copy made for other platforms. X’s system then automatically reformats the materials to fit its own specifications.

The move is a stark departure from the platform's earlier emphasis on its unique, real-time audience. It signals a clear shift in priorities. After a mass exodus of major advertisers following Elon Musk's 2022 acquisition, X’s ad revenue plummeted. While some brands have been lured back by discounted rates and new safety tools, many large spenders remain wary, concerned about brand safety and the platform's direction.

This new tool directly targets a practical barrier: cost. Agencies often balk at the extra time and money needed to reformat campaigns for a secondary platform. By absorbing that work, X hopes to position itself as a simple, low-risk addition to existing media plans. The implicit pitch is no longer for a dedicated budget, but for the marginal spend left over after primary campaigns are set.

Industry reaction is split. Some media buyers see it as a smart, friction-reducing play that could encourage testing. Others doubt it addresses core brand safety concerns that keep chief marketing officers awake at night. For X, which carries significant debt from its acquisition, the strategy is a survival play. In a digital ad market dominated by a few giants, accepting a role as a convenient afterthought may be the most viable path to steady, if modest, revenue.