X’s advertising woes are about to get worse, according to a new report from Kantar, details of which were published by Advanced Television. The market research firm found that 26 percent of marketers plan to cut their spending on X in the coming year, and advertiser trust in X is “at a historic low.”
Kantar’s report, which is based on interviews with 18,000 consumers and 1,000 marketers around the world, highlights just how much X’s ad business has declined since Elon Musk took over the company.
Over the past year and a half, several high-profile advertisers on the platform have paused or slowed their spending due to concerns about hate speech and other toxic content. Musk has also angered major advertisers, saying brands worried about hate speech should “go fuck themselves.”
They have also accused advertisers of “blackmail,” and recently sued an industry group and several global companies for “illegal boycotts” of the platform. Of note, Kantar found that only 4 percent of marketers believe X is safe for brands.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company told the Financial Times that “advertisers know that X now offers stronger brand safety, performance and analytics capabilities than ever before, while seeing the highest levels of usage ever.”
If you have actors who can make the work they’re given work better, weak content isn’t a problem, but, and I’m sad to say this, that’s not Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh is an exceptional performer who has given many underwhelming performances throughout her long and distinguished career.
But she made her name playing characters with deep interiority, not playing scenery-chewing high-camp villains. Even in her redemption phase, it’s impossible to believe that Yeoh is the kind of monster that Star Trek needs from Georgiou. Instead of narrowing the scenes and stakes to suit her talents, the film broadens the canvas and expects Yeoh to fill a space she never needed.
The rest of the gang is similarly deprived of a vast amount of content and chaos, which the film shows little of.
Having only six people on the Section 31 team before meeting Georgiou means that every character other than her is a mere thumbnail sketch. This includes a sad guy, a “fun” guy, a stressed guy, a robot guy, a hot guy, and a guy with a bad Irish accent.