When Elon Musk told advertisers on X, formerly Twitter, to expletive off late last year, for once the man often called the real-life Tony Stark seemed to behind the times. There was already an exodus of advertisers from the platform with X’s evaluation having gone down 71% since Musk’s purchase of Twitter in late 2022. Meanwhile, LinkedIn Ads revenue went up by 10.1% Year-on-Year in 2023, with earnings up to 4 billion USD.

According to mutual fund Fidelity, in a disclosure obtained by Axios, X, the heavily ad-dependent platform, is now being valued at 12.5 billion USD.

This seemed to be a natural progression as marketers need to put theirmarketing dollarssomewhere, and LinkedIn, thesocial media platformof choice for many seems to be a natural choice.

“LinkedIn’s impressive 10% year-on-year ad revenue surge in 2023 has sparked speculation, with many pointing to the exodus of advertisers from X as a potential catalyst. While X's recent controversies and policy changes undoubtedly played a role, attributing all of LinkedIn’s success to this single factor would be akin to overlooking a compelling, multi-faceted strategy,” says Venugopal Ganganna, CEO, Langoor.

Indeed, according to Mitesh Kothari, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, White Rivers Media, beyond mere trend-chasing, LinkedIn's ad boom stems from its laser focus on professional content, engaged users, and a proven ROI for ambitiousB2B brands.

“It's less about who they replace and more about building a distinct audience hungry for career insights and thought leadership. Expect LinkedIn Ads to double down on this advantage this year, weaving in immersive experiences like AR demos and capitalizing on podcasts and employee-generated content. These moves, coupled with their B2B targeting expertise, offer a masterclass for brands seeking to resonate with the platform's dynamic audience,” he says.

Sapna Sharma, Co-founder & COO, Efficacy Worldwide, points out that over the last few months, X have seen major players like Disney, Warner Bros and Apple among many more leaving the advertising platform due to changing dynamics.

“These exits have helped increase the revenue of LinkedIn in a big way as LinkedIn provides a most relevant alternative to these advertisers. We have seen that in the last few weeks the CPMs at LinkedIn have gone as high as 30% as the rates are based on Real Time Bidding and such a huge increase in demand have resulted in higher rates,” says Sharma.

“While I can't put an exact number to attribute LinkedIn's gains from X there is a possibility of it having some effect. LinkedIn's ad platform has matured over the years. The targeting options on LinkedIn are extremely granular,” observes Yash Chandiramani, Founder and Chief Strategist, Admatazz, saying that in his experience, B2B players have become a lot more open to spending on digital, “whether it's for lead generation or even branding. And the preferred platform is LinkedIn. This in my opinion can be a great contributor to the results.”

“I believe lead generation is getting a lot more serious on LinkedIn. We've seen phenomenal results for overseas education clients, export manufacturers and even automobile b2b brands. That's where a good amount of marketing money for B2B should be spent in 2024, apart from the usual branding exercises, of course,” he adds.

Apart from Elon Musk, the fact that LinkedIn has invested in sharpening its targeting and with increased the targeting filters like ethnicity, designation etc. in the last few months have also helped LinkedIn garnering more advertisers and a higher ad revenue.

While LinkedIn Ads enjoyed a stellar 2023, riding the wave of strategic content investments and marketing prowess, can 2024 see an encore? “Absolutely. With a proactive approach and an eye on emerging trends, LinkedIn Ads has the potential to further solidify its position as the premier B2B and talent-focused advertising platform,” asserts Ganganna.

For Sharad Lunia, Founder of releaseMyAd and xpert, the growth of LinkedIn ads would closely mirror growth in enterprise or mid-market SAAS companies, which exclusively rely on this as a channel to generate leads via sharing whitepapers and hosting webinars.

"Unlike consumer advertising, the LinkedIn audience, when on the platform, is far more curious to upskill their professional knowledge and connections, which serves as a strong fit for sharing such report-oriented content," shares Lunia.

Pointing to a specific use case, he adds, "We, at Xpert, have been leveraging the platform as an outlet to showcase our data expertise by building out data reports targeted to brand marketers. This has created immense reach and influence among our target audience of CMO's which trickles down as leads for requesting a platform demo."

Other potential options the Microsoft owned platform can explore, according to Ganganna, are AI-powered hyper-personalization (ChatGPTshould help enormously here); interactive ad experiences; and audio Integration.

“Podcasts, audiobooks, and voice search are exploding in popularity. LinkedIn Ads can tap into this audio wave by offering audio ad formats, allowing brands to seamlessly target professionals during their commutes or while consuming their preferred content. Ads such as B2B thought leadership podcasts sponsored by relevant firms, or targeted audio ads based on a user's industry and job title can transform the LinkedIn ads landscape,” says Ganganna.

Aditya Varma, Co-Founder and Head of Digital and Operations, W.A.Y.S. (What Are You Saying), says in the realm of meaningful connections, LinkedIn stands out as a valued ally for brands and excels with its precise targeting of engaged audiences. The surge in LinkedIn's ad business partly finds roots in brands migrating from X, driven not just by precise targeting but also by the platform's unique respect for brands.

“LinkedIn has distinctive targeting prowess, rich job history and intentions data which can bring in a lot of opportunity for advertisers, as it increases reach in the right way. With such powerful features, LinkedIn can be a compelling magnet for brands aiming to precisely target sales in 2024,” he says.