Twitter analytics staff decimated by layoffs and resignations

Layoffs and resignations—including a wave over Thanksgiving weekend—have decimated the insights and analytics teams at Twitter, according to people familiar with the matter, leaving questions about who’s still around to handle audience measurement and brand safety issues. The departures are among thousands that have reduced Twitter’s workforce by more than half since Elon Musk took control of the social platform late last month, but now appear to be particularly steep in measurement and analytics. Among questions arising from the deep cuts is how or whether a pending Media Rating Council audit of Twitter’s brand safety processes can proceed. Ad Age Next: CMO Get your tickets for the Dec. 7 event in New York Register here An MRC representative declined to comment, and Twitter representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment. Related: See the latest Twitter updates Many brand advertisers who demand third-party audience data have suspended advertising on Twitter since Musk bought the company. But other big advertisers that remain, including Google (whose representative declined to comment), continue to demand third-party audience measurement, according to a person familiar with the matter. This person said each of the three teams that make up the insights and analytics group at Twitter has been hit hard by layoffs and resignations. The Audience Insights unit, which was heavy with technical talent and looked at conversation volume and trends and worked with Twitter sales and marketing teams, lost 70% of its staff, the source said. The Advertising Research group that worked with client teams for big advertisers such as Samsung, Verizon, AT&T and Google, doing custom studies and handling third-party measurement, also lost more than 70% of its people, this person said, leaving only two to handle prioritized work for a host of tech and telecom advertisers. A third team that handled consumer and customer research studies globally was eliminated except for one employee, the person said. Employees across all three groups worked on brand safety issues at times. Advertisers that have paused spending on Twitter have tended to be brand advertisers who are more focused on audience measurement and brand lift studies that the insights and analytics group would handle. Many of the remaining direct-response advertisers focus only on clicks and conversions they can attribute to their ads. "So far we haven’t had any issues on the analytics side,” said one agency executive, adding the agency has no brand lift studies for clients in market right now. “For the one remaining client we have on the platform, they haven’t experienced issues yet,” the agency executive said. However, staff cuts could make it hard for brand advertisers that have paused spending to return to Twitter. And they also raise a question of whether Twitter can continue to provide brand safety controls for advertisers or get MRC accreditation for its processes, since almost every person on the team working on the audit is now gone, according to a person familiar with the matter. Of course, the brand safety team at Twitter has one less thing to monitor these days. Sky News reports that Twitter has quietly dropped its policy against sharing Covid-19 misinformation. And the same advertisers that want brand lift studies and third-party audience measurement also tend to be the ones most concerned about brand safety. Still, Musk has touted audience numbers and brand safety as selling points as recently as Nov. 26. He tweeted a presentation deck showing average daily users at all-time highs but hate speech incidence declining to levels similar to before he took over— after an initial spike in late October and early November. Slides from my Twitter company talk pic.twitter.com/8LLXrwylta— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2022 The question now is whether Twitter still has enough people around to measure those things for the next presentation deck. Contributing: Garett Sloane

Twitter analytics staff decimated by layoffs and resignations

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