5 key topics from X CEO Linda Yaccarino’s CES keynote

It’s been a wild ride for Linda Yaccarino Since leaving NBCUniversal in June 2023 to become CEO of X, and she explained where that journey has taken her and where it might head during her tenure. opening announcementdress has THESE in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Here are five key topics she covered during her conversation with the former CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge:

1. Welcome back, advertisers

Yaccarino has repeated in the past that 90% of advertisers left on brand safety issues have return to the platformciting its brand safety efforts, new tools and uniqueness as a platform.

She cited partnerships X has formed with third-party companies specializing in brand safety and suitability, industry certifications achieved, and deployment of more robust controls and metrics.

Additionally, the CEO noted that since then, Twitter has been acquired by Elon Musk as of October 2022, more than 250 product innovations have shipped and deployed, more than in the previous 10 years on Twitter combined.

2. Trend Genius

The new product she was most proud of was Trend Geniuswhich allows advertisers to choose the topics they want to align with, then share pre-made creatives when those topics go viral.

Yaccarino also mentioned a luxury goods company LVMH and two recent cases where Trend Genius came into play.

For example, the actor Bradley Cooper is one of LVMH’s brand ambassadors, and Trend Genius was sparked when Cooper was spotted singing with Travis Kelce to a Taylor Swift concert. And when another LVMH influencer Zendaya presented himself to Golden Globe Awards earlier this month, while wearing her engagement ring to fellow actor Tom Holland, the same thing happened.

“Everyone talks about trends in X, right? There is no substitute for X,” she said. “When a trend starts on X and it reaches a certain height, let’s call it altitude, or it’s really on fire on start to benefit from it. trends. »

She added: “When the trend starts to calm down, your campaign stops and we move on to the next one.”

3. X against traditional media

Musk’s disdain for traditional media is widely known to all those who follow him on X, as he continually reminds users of the platform: “You are the media now.”

Despite the tumultuous relationship, Yaccarino revealed during his speech that former Wall Street Journal Detroit bureau chief John Stoll had joined X to lead its focus group and partnership team.

“Traditional media has become almost like fan service to make sure you’re catering to a niche audience to maximize your budget, and what we want to do is make sure we’re providing a sweet spot so that this journalistic curiosity can return. and making sure there is a place where journalists can thrive and make a good living,” Yaccarino said, referring to the platform’s revenue sharing program for creators.

4. Sports center

Yaccarino praised the NFL Portal launched by the platform last November, claiming that X had 36 billion impressions and 4 billion video views for National Football League content in 2024.

“If you’re transforming the business like we’re doing, you want to partner with the best brands,” she said. “And there is no brand bigger and stronger than the NFL.”

Yaccarino added that the success of the NFL portal will likely lead to an eventual global sports portal on the platform.

5. Reaction to Meta news

Yaccarino shared his reaction to the news earlier this week that Meta will remove third-party fact-checking in favor of a Community Ratings initiative like the one in place on X.

“Is that cool?” » she said. “I think it’s really exciting that when you think about community notes that are good for the world, think of it as this global collective consciousness that holds each other accountable on a global scale in real time. And it couldn’t be more empowering than seeing that (CEO Mark Zuckerberg) and Meta realized that.