Observed Signal · May 22, 2026 · IPO Filing · Source: AdExchanger · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Hollywood Skips Cannes; SpaceX Reveals X Ad Decline
AdExchanger's daily roundup (May 22, 2026) reports a thinner Hollywood presence at the Cannes Film Festival, with major studios largely absent and social influencers filling the celebrity vacuum. SpaceX's S‑1 filing discloses previously opaque ad metrics for X (formerly Twitter): ad revenue fell from $2.3B in 2023 to $1.7B in 2024 and rose to $1.8B in 2025, with year‑over‑year declines into early 2026; analysts estimate X now accounts for about 1% of social ad spending versus Twitter's prior ~10%. The piece also summarizes publisher upheaval (leadership changes and acquisitions at Business Insider, BuzzFeed and Vox), the expansion of OpenAI's ads pilot to financial brands, and personnel moves including Jonathan Moffie and Peter Elkins‑Williams.
SpaceX's S‑1 provides first clear public disclosure of X's ad revenues and trends, affecting advertiser and platform market assessments; combined publisher upheaval and platform ad-share shifts have material implications for ad budgets and media strategy.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- AdExchanger published this roundup on 2026-05-22.
- SpaceX filed an S-1 that discloses X's ad revenue: $2.3B (2023), $1.7B (2024), $1.8B (2025), with ad revenue declining year-over-year into early 2026.
- Analyst Brian Wieser estimated X accounts for ~1% of social ad spending, down from Twitter's ~10%.
- Major Hollywood studios (Disney, Universal, Amazon MGM, Sony and the new Paramount-Warner Bros) were reported as no-shows at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
- Publishers face upheaval: Business Insider CEO Barbara Peng is departing; BuzzFeed was acquired by Byron Allen; James Murdoch purchased part of Vox Media's assets.
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X's Advertiser Base Resembles Pre‑Musk Era
Third‑party data from Sensor Tower indicates that many large advertisers that left X after Elon Musk’s takeover have returned in 2026, though spending patterns differ from the platform’s pre‑Musk era. The largest U.S. ad verticals on X so far in 2026 are media & entertainment (24%), shopping (13%), software (12%), financial services (11%) and gaming (8%); Sensor Tower says each vertical is spending at the “eight‑figure level” in the U.S. Top advertisers by U.S. spend include Comcast, Amazon, the NFL, xAI, Google, Dell, AT&T, NBA, SpaceX and American Express, with varying year‑over‑year changes. X’s S‑1 filing and third‑party analysts note the platform is still recovering — X reported a $595 million decline in ad revenue in 2024 — and advertisers are favoring event‑driven, tentpole moments over always‑on buys. X recently announced a major ad platform overhaul and is pitching AI and performance features to win back ad dollars.
X's ad revenue remains far below past levels
SpaceX (parent SpaceXAI) published consolidated Q2 results showing that advertising revenue tied to X remains well below pre-change levels. Twitter's last public-quarter ad revenue was $1.08 billion in Q2 2022; by Q2 2025 ad revenue in the SpaceX reporting perimeter was $426 million and fell to $367 million in Q2 2026 (up from $343 million in the previous quarter). SpaceX reported total Q2 revenue of $7.8 billion, with $2.6 billion attributed to AI, $4.3 billion to Connectivity and $962 million to the Space segment. The article notes advertiser return claims from SpaceXAI’s ad head, ongoing brand-safety concerns tied to reduced moderation and Grok controversies, and new ad products such as Mentions Boost and recently launched Lead Gen Ads as attempts to revive ad demand.
Meta Vibes, OpenAI Sora 2 First Year Shows AI Slop Rejected
The one-year anniversaries of Meta's Vibes AI video feed and OpenAI's Sora 2 video generator highlight a shift in audience sentiment against fully synthetic, low-effort AI content. OpenAI closed the Sora app in April and switched off its API on September 24, effectively ending the product, while Meta's Vibes remains live but has had muted impact. Research from creator agency Billion Dollar Boy shows consumer preference for AI-generated creator content plummeted from 60% in 2023 to 26% in 2025. Audiences now value visible human effort, termed 'effort signaling', as seen in campaigns by Diageo, Old Mout Cider, and IKEA. AI is still accepted when used behind the scenes for efficiency, enhancing human craft rather than replacing it. Brands using AI to reduce costs, like Diageo, demonstrate its positive role when integrated thoughtfully.
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