Sources: Linda Yaccarino plans to launch full-screen, sound-on video ads on Twitter's short-video feed and is wooing celebrities in the hope of selling more ads
New CEO hits the ground running with plans for new ads offering and tells staff to get ready for ‘hand-to-hand combat’
Financial TimesHannah Murphy
Context & Ripple Effects
Yaccarino was hired to run Twitter’s business operations while Elon Musk retained responsibility for product design and technology, making advertising recovery the central test of the new management split. Her stated investor emphasis on video and partnerships already signaled the commercial direction behind this proposed ad format.
The initiative also sharpens the challenge identified soon after her arrival: repairing advertiser relationships while working alongside Musk. Full-screen video inventory and celebrity outreach pair a sellable placement with efforts to make the platform more attractive to marketers.
First-order effects
Twitter can package its short-video feed as a more prominent, sound-on video-ad placement, giving its sales organization a concrete new product to pitch to brands.
Yaccarino’s celebrity outreach makes talent and creator participation part of the advertising strategy, rather than relying solely on conventional brand campaigns.
Second-order effects
Advertisers evaluating Twitter would have a more familiar video-led format to compare with other social-video buys, increasing pressure on Twitter to demonstrate brand suitability and campaign value.
If the approach gains traction, Twitter’s revenue model could depend more heavily on premium video inventory and creator-adjacent programming, rather than its traditional feed advertising mix.
The episode is an early test of whether an ad-industry executive can translate media-sales relationships into durable demand on a platform whose advertiser trust remains a constraint.
The trend: Twitter is moving toward a video- and talent-centered advertising model to rebuild marketer demand under Yaccarino’s business leadership.
New Twitter CEO tells staff they need to deploy “hand-to-hand combat” to win back advertisers Among her plans: - new sound-on, full-screen video ads to run in the TikTok-style video feed - boost in ads headcount - facilitate brand deals for celebs https://www.ft.com/...
NEW, with @tiffkhsu and @RMac18: Twitter's new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, has an exit agreement with NBC that prevented her from working on advertising deals that would conflict with the interests of her former employer https://www.nytimes.com/...
Twitter C.E.O. Linda Yaccarino's media relations strategy: “have very good relationships with them so they become our advocates or mouthpieces to amplify our strategies.” https://www.nytimes.com/... w/@RMac18 and @tiffkhsu
“After Musk's $44B takeover, many big advertisers slashed or cut ad spending altogether in response to his relaxed stance on content moderation, erratic posts and unorthodox leadership style. This wiped about 50 per cent off Twitter's $5B/year revenues.” https://www.ft.com/...
Her media strategy, @lindayacc reportedly said, is to “have very good relationships with them so they become our advocates or mouthpieces to amplify our strategies.” A “press relations” strategy that views journalists as a vessel for corporate propaganda, then — not journalism. h…
so she's as clueless as musk is. advertisers have left bcos of hate speech, disinformation, and the owner flying around making bigoted pronouncements and boosting conspiracy theories. https://twitter.com/...
As a #Twitter user who will be on the receiving end of this, telling staff to “get ready for ‘hand-to-hand combat’” is all you need to know re the new Twitter #UX https://twitter.com/...
Linda Yaccarino wants Twitter to prepare for “hand-to-hand combat,” which is literally the thing Elon Musk backed out of because his mom wouldn't allow it https://www.ft.com/...
As someone who uses (and likes) Twitter a lot, all of this sounds good news. In 2021, Twitter had $5B revenue ($4.5B from ads) and $5.2B in expenses. As per the New York Times in June, 2023 ad revenue expected to be at $3B (!!) Only sensible to want to get advertisers back. https…
Twitter is the last old social media platform trying to mimick TikTok, by focusing on short videos. This is key to the “full-screen, sound-on” advertising strategy supervised by new CEO Linda Yaccarino. https://www.ft.com/...
Oh hell yeah more ads on a vastly shittier product where every shithead right wing nut job gets boosted to the top of everything. Can't wait https://twitter.com/...
it was always funny to me when the dipshit children of white shoe lawyers working as legislative aides or executive assistants thanks to a hookup from their dad spoke of their clerk jobs using military language — you're not in the trenches, you're at PJ Clarke's. Same same here. …
The owner of the site promotes ketamine. The feed is filed with dodgy “adverts” for illegal products and scams. Nothing seems to be done about the swamp of racist, antisemitic, homophobic and abusive accounts. And *this* is how she expects to win back ad business?! https://twitte…
In the longer term, Yaccarino will continue the commerce/payment push, and is exploring the use of generative AI for ads creative She'll present her vision via Twitter Spaces in the first week of August Twitter staff and ads folks open to sharing more, DM or my signal in bio [ima…