With a single tweet, President Donald Trump can make headlines, move markets, and ignite new feuds.
Despite Twitter being the president’s platform of choice during the campaign, and now in the White House, there’s been no noticeable “Trump effect” when it comes to Twitter’s ability to generate revenue.
Twitter posted revenue of $717 million for the fourth quarter of 2016, up 1 percent year-over-year. The service reported 319 million monthly active users, up 4 percent from the same period in 2015.
Perhaps most perplexing, Twitter had more eyeballs on the site, with impressions and time spent on Twitter “increasing by double digits in the fourth quarter on a year-over-year basis,” according to the company.
Related: Could Ex-Twitter CEO Have Changed the Way Trump Tweets?
While it’s hard to say what that can be attributed to, with a contentious election season, it’s certainly feasible that some of those additional views came thanks to Trump’s voracious tweeting.
Here’s where things get – to borrow a word from the president – “sad!”
Advertising engagements were even up 151 percent, yet ad revenue for 2016 totaled $638 million – a slight dip from the previous year.
“I think whatever your political views, it’s clear that Trump is extremely divisive, and this isn’t really a positive for advertisers,” Richard Kramer, managing partner at Arete Research, told CNBC ahead of the earnings release Thursday morning.
“Some people just want to see cat pictures and memes they can laugh at, not an immigration debate,” said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “Those users are tuning out of Twitter.”
Ivan Feinseth, chief investment officer at Tigress Financial Partners, told NBC News that even though “Trump has made this company beyond a household name,” advertisers feel they’re getting more bang for their buck at Google and Facebook.
While it could be a Hail Mary move, could dumping Trump be good for Twitter’s business?
Unless he violates the terms of service, Feinseth doesn’t think so.
“If you’re Twitter, that would be like taking a gun to your head,” he said.
The real issue for Twitter, Feinseth said, is that “so much of Trump’s tweets are retweeted, people don’t have to join.”
