Elon Musk seems to have decided that one way to inspire confidence in Twitter as an advertising platform is to be an advertiser himself. Yesterday, CNBC reported that SpaceX had bought a premium ad package from Twitter — typically SpaceX invests little in Twitter ads — as another of Musk’s companies plans to start promoting the Starlink satellite internet to customers in Spain and Australia. SpaceX has so far spent $160,000 on the Twitter ad campaign, and the final total investment could be as high as $250,000, according to internal documents reviewed by CNBC.
According to Musk, there is nothing wrong with SpaceX buying this ad package special. The CEOs of SpaceX and Twitter took issue with CNBC’s characterization of advertising investments as “big.”
“SpaceX Starlink bought a tiny advertising package to Testing Twitter ads in Australia and Spain,” Musk tweeted. “Did the same thing for FB/Insta/Google.”
While Musk has been dealing with Twitter’s advertising issues lately, Musk does have motivation to expand Starlink’s customer base this year as well. In February, Forbes reported that Starlink could generate $25 million in monthly revenue if 250,000 people actually use it, something Musk has said it does. As long as Musk keeps finding new customers, SpaceX could generate $300 million a year in revenue, quickly recouping the cost of launching the service, Forbes said.
“Obviously there is real business here, and as time goes on Over time, more customers will continue to amortize the company’s costs faster,” Forbes reported that Musk’s rollout of premium internet services could pay off SpaceX’s debt faster. These premium options include SpaceX’s recent $500-a-month higher-bandwidth internet service for rural businesses and its recently launched $5,000-a-month internet service for yachts and oil rigs.
While SpaceX is interested in reaching more customers, Twitter is Less seen by SpaceX as a source of new customers. Current and former SpaceX employees told CNBC that “SpaceX typically doesn’t buy large ad packages from Twitter” — until now.
It may be that Musk recently learned from his social platform. status to see how Twitter can help his other businesses. Or, perhaps this massive ad buy could be Musk’s way of showing that Twitter is still a viable platform for advertisers, once again putting his money where his mouth is.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment. Twitter has reportedly ceased operations of its communications office.
How big is SpaceX’s Twitter ad package? Purchased by SpaceX. The ad package was part of a campaign dubbed a Twitter “takeover,” according to CNBC.
Advertisers can buy two “takeovers” from Twitter combo. One is trend takeover, where brands can place ads next to trending topics. The other is timeline takeover, where brands are convinced their ad will be at the top of the timeline. The timeline takes over so that the brand ad is the first ad a user sees when they log in.
CNBC reports that SpaceX has acquired rights to timeline , which Twitter describes in its marketing materials as “the equivalent of a prime-time TV commercial or a billboard where millions of people will see your brand ad.” Musk said the roughly $160,000 SpaceX spent was “tiny” in his book, But in terms of how Twitter describes its own advertising package, the Timeline acquisition does appear to be one of the largest advertising packages SpaceX could have purchased. On a Twitter business page, Twitter describes the acquisition as granting advertisers access” highest quality, widest reach placements”.
As CNBC points out, no matter how big or small SpaceX’s advertising investment is, it won’t be enough to make up for all the advertisers pulling out of Twitter. Small.
Musk insists that SpaceX has The platform invested in ads for Starlink, so SpaceX’s first big business with Twitter probably had less to do with Musk owning the platform and now more to do with a bigger bid to drive Starlink’s growth by any means possible.
Musk publicly adjusts to his new role at Twitter, continues to show He seems to know little about the marketing value of Twitter, even though SpaceX has become one of Twitter’s largest advertisers. Many social media managers sniffed when tweeted. By far the biggest click driver on the Internet.” Before Musk’s tweet was deleted, Twitter users added context, fact-checked Musk, and clarified that it was related to other social networks. Compared to Twitter, which brings in the least amount of clicks.
Claire Diaz-Ortiz Diaz-Ortiz, a high-profile ex-employee who worked at Twitter between 2009 and 2014 — perhaps best known for getting the Pope on Twitter — joined those calling Musk a “lie.”
“This is 100% wrong and Twitter knows it, ’ Diaz-Ortiz tweeted, clarifying that Twitter doesn’t sell ads based on clicks because it knows it can’t compete with platforms like Facebook for traffic drivers. “Twitter has other key advantages. (Marketing is not just clicks),” she said while educating Twitter’s new masters.
