Where should brands spend after the decline of X? Threads Opens for Business

Since Musk’s takeover of X (formerly Twitter) the platform has been on the decline with a , and a number of unfavourable changes leading big brands such as Disney and Universal to stop their spend altogether.

A key concern for advertisers on the platform is brand safety, with an increase of hate speech and misinformation circulating on the platform as a result of loosened content moderation, as well as policy and leadership changes which have subjected advertisers to instability.

With these issues in mind, the question becomes where can brands effectively reach the lost audiences from X? Particularly for corporate, policy, and media opinion former audiences, there’s a need for hyper-focused paid targeting that traditionally Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram haven’t been able to provide.

Who are X’s rivals for paid spend?

Reddit – good for niche targeting, and a diverse range of content formats

One alternative seeing a rise in popularity amongst advertisers has been Reddit – whose ad revenue had  increased by 50% year on year by the end of 2024. Reddit has a high appeal to advertisers with niche and engaged audience offerings- with targeting options including Keywords, Communities or ‘subreddits’ and category interests.

It also offers lots of different formats that allow for audiences to engage with brands – from straightforward Image and Video ads to Reddit Takeover ads which place your brand at the forefront of feeds for 24hrs. Much like X, Reddit allows for brands to interact with their audiences in a more authentic way – BUT there are limitations. The fact that all users are anonymous can be limiting when looking at brand safety, and from experience the platform often recommends restricting comments due to users generally having more sceptical perspectives on branded content, which can limit engagement options. The answer? Brands must find ways to engage with and add value to communities on the platform if they want to succeed – speaking the language of Reddit. What’s more, with it’s growing influence in search based AI, Reddit is more than ever a platform to prioritise for brands.

Bluesky – the one to watch

Bluesky is emerging as a strong organic competitor to X, having recently surpassed 30 million users. In terms of user experience Bluesky feels very comparable to X- with a similar user interface regarding feeds and posting formats, which appeals to many expert and opinion forming audiences.

Currently however this platform does not offer advertising, and it is uncertain when this will become an offering. Whilst that can be limiting for brands seeking to make big impact, it remains an important hub for engaging communities.

LinkedIn – granular and expansive targeting options, but can be costly

LinkedIn has a strong ad offering- with lots of targeting options based on employment and skills as well as a variation of creatives available. Whilst this offering makes LinkedIn a strong to X, it is more suited to B2B clients or employment and skills focused campaigns- with consumer-focused advertising being far less common.

Enter Threads: X’s strongest rival?

More recently there has been a new alternative – particularly as most advertisers are likely to already be using the company for advertising.

In April Meta announced that they were opening up ads to all advertisers on their newest platform – Threads. Threads has already seen strong organic growth with over 300m monthly active users – a huge number given the platform only launched in July 2023.

In terms of style of feed and tone of content, Threads is more akin to the Twitter of old than Instagram and Facebook – so topic wise Threads is a smart contender to X.

As Threads gains momentum and opens its doors to advertisers, it’s worth examining what makes the platform attractive—and where it might still fall short compared to more established channels…

Pros:

• Seamless integration with other Meta platforms – the platform being integrated into Meta’s marketing system means that ads can be promoted across Facebook, Instagram and Threads at once. It also allows users to use the pre-established targeting options provided by Meta – including their AI capabilities.
• Increased brand safety – Meta is allowing advertisers to use the inventory filter for ads on Threads. This is their brand safety measure that allows advertisers to control the sensitivity level of organic content your ads adjacent to in the feed.
• Easier audience interaction – audiences on Threads can interact with ads much like they interacted on X- with options to reply and repost ads easily.

Cons:

• Limited placement options – as it stands, ads on threads can only be shared to the main feed, unlike X which has more placement options including the explore feed which places your ad alongside trending content and news.
• Only available to advertise alongside Instagram ads. This not only means that it will be more difficult to create ads that feel more native to the platform but will also mean advertisers have less control over how their budget is spread between the two placements.
• Broader targeting – in line with existing Meta targeting options, it is harder to select granular and niche targeting options that may appeal more to corporate brands

What should brands do now?

In summary, whilst there isn’t yet a ‘like for like’ competitor to X when it comes to advertising to corporate, niche, and expert audiences; now is definitely the time to strategically diversify your ad mix.

For advertisers considering using advertising on Threads – it is worth a go- Meta is at the forefront of social media advertising particularly in revenue, so it’s unlikely Threads will be going anywhere.

By Antonia Fieldhouse, Paid Social Senior Account Executive at Citypress