X ad costs and engagement continue to fall, per report

Ad prices continue to fall on X, and ad engagement is also waning, according to a February report from data intelligence platform Tracer.

The Elon Musk-owned app saw its cost per impressions (CPMs) fall 38% year over year compared to last February, the report found. The click-through rate (CTR) fell 54% over the same period. That dynamic is likely an indication that demand has fallen, Kevin Synnott, a data intelligence lead at Tracer, explained.

Tracer’s data, which is sourced from analyses the platform conducts for clients like Papa Johns, Headspace, and VaynerMedia, provides a snapshot into the inner pricing of ad platforms. While X saw its CTR drop, Pinterest’s CTR skyrocketed 426%, which Synnott said was likely because of new advertising inventory the platform has rolled out.

CPMs on Google’s Performance Max tool were up 261% in the past year. That may be because advertisers are “doubling down” on its new AI-powered tech, Synnott said, which was taken out of beta tests in late 2021.

Here’s how other platforms are doing:

• Instagram’s CPMs increased 19% and CTR jumped 219%.
• TikTok’s CPMs rose 19%, while CTR rose 13%.
• YouTube’s CPMs remained the same, but CTR jumped 208%.

Back to X: Tracer’s data would correspond with reports that X’s revenue has tanked and advertisers have fled since Musk bought the platform, then called Twitter, in 2022. X recently shared its own insights into its performance, claiming the platform had 250 million daily active users and was tracking 8 billion daily active user minutes in 2024, up 10% from 2023. In a detailed breakdown, Social Media Today disputed the figures.

Zoom out: The ad platform ecosystem is complex and rapidly changing, and a certain short-form video platform is staring down the prospect of an outright ban after House lawmakers advanced a bill earlier this month. But don’t expect the spending to stop. Advertising analyst Brian Wieser, founder and principal at Madison and Wall, recently predicted that US advertising spend, excluding political ads, will grow 5.6% this year.