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SpaceX just bought a big ad campaign on Twitter for Starlink
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SPACEX JUST BOUGHT A BIG AD CAMPAIGN ON TWITTER FOR STARLINK

Published Sun, Nov 13 20228:39 PM ESTUpdated 2 Hours Ago
Lora Kolodny@lorakolodny
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Key Points
 * Elon Musk’s aerospace business SpaceX just ordered one of the larger
   advertising packages available from Twitter, which Musk recently took over in
   a contentious, $44 billion deal.
 * The campaign is to promote the SpaceX satellite internet service, Starlink,
   in Australia and Spain.
 * The ad package, known as a “takeover” at Twitter, typically costs $250,000 or
   more for brands advertising on the social media platform.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event on August 25,
2022 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas.
Michael Gonzalez | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s aerospace business SpaceX has ordered one of the larger advertising
packages available from Twitter, the social media business he just acquired in a
$44 billion deal and where he is now serving as CEO.

The campaign will promote the SpaceX-owned and -operated satellite internet
service called Starlink on Twitter in Spain and Australia, according to internal
records from the social media business viewed by CNBC.



The ad campaign SpaceX is buying to promote Starlink is called a Twitter
“takeover.” When a company buys one of these packages, they typically spend
upwards of $250,000 to put their brand on top of the main Twitter timeline for a
full day, according to one current and one former Twitter employee who asked to
remain unnamed because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the
company.

Users should see Starlink brand messaging for the first three times that they
open the Twitter app on the day or days of the planned takeover campaign in
Australia and in Spain. The campaign, which was purchased in the last week, was
slated to run in coming days first in Australia then in Spain.

SpaceX has not typically purchased large advertising packages from Twitter, the
current and former employees said.

Hours after this story was first published, Musk wrote in a tweet: “SpaceX
Starlink bought a tiny – not large – ad package to test effectiveness of Twitter
advertising in Australia & Spain. Did same for FB/Insta/Google.”

According to internal documents viewed by CNBC, SpaceX has spent more than
$160,000 on the Twitter ad campaign for Starlink in Australia and Spain so far.



Starlink employs a constellation of satellites that beam internet down to paying
subscribers who also need to obtain terminals from SpaceX to access it. SpaceX
developed Starlink with the goal of providing high-speed internet connectivity
to people in locations poorly served, or not served at all, by cable or
fiber-optic infrastructure.

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In Ukraine, the Starlink service has provided critical connectivity to the
country’s military and some civilians as Russia’s brutal invasion obliterated
the communications infrastructure there. While SpaceX covered a portion of the
cost of providing this service in Ukraine, Musk later groused about how donating
hurt his company’s profit margins.


PRESSURE ON TWITTER AD SALES

Musk is also the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, in addition to his
responsibilities at SpaceX and Twitter. He has famously boasted that his car
company spends no money on traditional advertising like print, radio, television
and display ads online. Instead, Tesla garners headlines from fan blogs, news
sites, and creates buzz through motor clubs, fan or shareholder events and
social media engagement.

Musk now finds himself in the position of needing to sell online advertising as
the “Chief Twit,” or more formally CEO, of Twitter which remains a major,
international social media platform. Twitter boasted around 237.8 million
monetizable daily active users before Musk’s contentious take-private deal. Musk
is on a mission to generate at least half of Twitter’s revenue from subscribers,
not just advertising.

One campaign, even a big one like a “takeover,” is not enough to make up for
multiple advertisers who have paused spending on Twitter recently, or fled the
platform during Musk’s rocky takeover.

Companies including General Motors, Audi, Volkswagen, General Mills, Pfizer,
United Airlines and others have paused their ad spending on Twitter for the time
being, responding in part to an onslaught of hate speech and misinformation on
the platform. Advertising giant Interpublic Group recommended that clients of
its agencies do the same. Twitter previously derived around 90% of its revenue
from advertising.

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When Musk launched and then quickly suspended a paid subscriber badge on Twitter
last week, this further shook advertisers’ faith in the platform. The badge
looked like an earlier verification blue check mark but only cost users $7.99
per month. Cheaply acquired blue check marks were used by pranksters and
imposters to pose as brands, politicians and celebrities and to post
unflattering and inaccurate messages.

One account created in the likeness of the drug company Eli Lilly caused a
serious problem on Thursday when it posted a message that, “we are excited to
announce insulin is free now.” The tweet went viral and remained on Twitter for
at least two hours before it was taken down. The real Eli Lilly account later
tweeted: “We apologize to those who have been served a misleading message from a
fake Lilly account.”

Eli Lilly’s stock price dropped sharply after the fake tweet was posted, though
major stock indices were positive at that time, with the S&P 500 experiencing
its biggest rally in two years. Musk-led automaker Tesla, SpaceX competitor
Lockheed Martin, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and many others were also impersonated
and pilloried on the platform.

This weekend, Musk wrote in a tweet, “Twitter drives a massive number of clicks
to other websites/apps. Biggest click driver on the Internet by far.” The new
Twitter CEO was promptly corrected by marketing experts and former Twitter
employees, and a correction note was added to his tweet. He later deleted the
tweet.

One former Twitter employee, Claire Díaz-Ortiz called him out, writing: “Lies. I
worked @twitter 5 yrs + wrote 2 books on social media marketing. This is false
and @twitter knows it. We never sold it on clicks, because it is much lower on
traffic than Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Twitter has other key strengths. (And
marketing is way more than clicks.”

In a companywide meeting last week, Musk told current Twitter employees that
bankruptcy isn’t out of the question, as the business faces an exodus of
advertisers and a broader economic downturn.

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Musk reportedly tells Twitter employees bankruptcy not out of the question
Fast Money


Update: This story was updated to reflect the amount that SpaceX has spent on
the Twitter ad campaign for Starlink so far, and that CEO Elon Musk has
characterized this as a “tiny” amount.


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