X (Twitter) tells advertisers that promoted accounts are over

Advertisers will no longer be able to promote their brands in timelines using the promoted accounts ad format on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Why we care. You now have one less way to grow followers and reach for your brand or business on X. Promoted accounts were one of the oldest ad products on X, so this may be a shock to long-time advertisers.

Why now? Since Elon Musk’s take-over last year, X has been trying to prioritize new ad products that leverage multi-media tools, such as video – which promoted accounts don’t have the capacity for.

• The hurried change is “part of a larger effort to optimize the X experience by prioritizing content formats”, according to an email from X obtained by Axios.

What are promoted accounts? Promoted accounts, or Follower Objective ads, used to appear on the X timeline as text-based posts, along with a ‘Follow’ button, enabling users to start following brands with minimal effort. The ad format reportedly generated $100 million in yearly revenue for the platform.

What has X said? An X representative acknowledged that many brands rely heavily on promoted accounts as part of their advertising strategies:

• “Will work to identify alternative routes to meet these goals.”

In the meantime, X is advising advertisers to explore its other ad products, such as engagement campaigns and reach campaigns.