X Ads

Overview

X Ads (formerly Twitter Ads) is a paid advertising platform that allows businesses and creators to promote their content across the X social network. The platform enables advertisers to reach X's active user base through promoted posts, video content, and targeted campaigns that appear in users' timelines, search results, and profiles. For newsletter creators, X Ads provides a way to grow their audience by promoting content to users interested in specific topics, conversations, or communities relevant to their newsletter niche.

The platform has become more accessible in 2025 with automated campaigns that can be set up in minutes, and AI targeting that increases conversions by an average of 16% . X Ads offers multiple campaign objectives including website traffic, engagements, video views, app installs, and conversions. The platform's targeting capabilities allow advertisers to reach users based on interests, keywords, conversation topics, follower look-alikes, and custom audiences built from existing subscriber lists or website visitors.

What makes X Ads distinct from other social advertising platforms is its focus on real-time conversations and trending topics. Newsletter creators can align their campaigns with current events, cultural moments, or industry discussions to reach audiences when they're most engaged with related content. The platform also removed its traditional follower campaign objective in favor of engagement-focused formats that drive more interactive relationships rather than static follows.

Best For

X Ads works best for newsletter creators who actively participate in X communities and want to amplify their presence within specific topic areas or conversations. The platform is particularly valuable for creators covering news, technology, finance, politics, or cultural commentary where X users actively engage in real-time discussions. It suits creators who produce shareable content that can generate organic engagement beyond paid promotion, as well as those building thought leadership in niche communities. X Ads is also effective for creators who already have an X presence and want to accelerate growth by reaching lookalike audiences similar to their existing followers.

Key Features

• Conversation and Keyword Targeting: X Ads allows advertisers to target users based on the topics they discuss and keywords they use in their posts and engagements. Newsletter creators can reach people actively participating in conversations about their content topics, ensuring ads appear to users already interested in the subject matter. This targeting approach captures audiences at moments of high engagement rather than relying solely on demographic or interest categories.

• Follower Look-Alikes Targeting: The platform enables targeting of users who share similar interests and behaviors with followers of specific X accounts. Creators can target people who follow competitors, thought leaders, or publications in their niche, or create lookalike audiences based on their own follower base. This feature helps newsletter creators reach new subscribers who have demonstrated interest in similar content from other sources.

• Multiple Campaign Objectives: X offers campaign types including website traffic (paying per link click), engagements (paying per engagement), pre-roll video views, app installs, and sales conversions (paying per impression) . Newsletter creators can choose objectives based on whether they want to drive traffic to signup pages, increase content engagement to build awareness, or optimize for direct conversions. Each campaign type uses different bidding models suited to specific marketing goals.

• Tailored Audiences for Retargeting: Tailored Audiences allow targeting specific groups based on their interactions and behaviors on the platform without requiring email addresses or personal information . Creators can retarget people who visited their website, engaged with previous posts, or match their existing subscriber lists to create custom audiences. This feature enables sophisticated remarketing strategies to convert interested users who haven't yet subscribed.

Pricing

X Ads offers some of the lowest costs among major advertising platforms, with costs around $0.27 per click and $0.30 per thousand impressions . Recent 2025 benchmarks show average cost per mille (CPM) of $2.09 and cost per click of $0.74 , though costs vary based on targeting specificity and competition. On average, businesses spend between $101 and $500 per month on X advertising , though there is no minimum spending requirement and advertisers maintain full control over daily budgets. The platform's lower costs compared to other social networks make it accessible for newsletter creators testing paid acquisition strategies or working with limited advertising budgets.