X is staffing up on adtech.
As part of its big CES push, X’s Linda Yaccarino announced today the appointment of John Nitti as Global Head of Ad Innovation. Before joining X, Nitti spent nearly a decade at Verizon, most recently as SVP of Strategic Partnerships, New Business Development, and Chief Investment Officer for Verizon Ventures, the company’s corporate venture arm.
In her post, Yaccarino described Nitti as someone who will “guide us as we grow our partnerships around some of the best tech in the world—especially our data and programmatic offerings.” (Programmatic, baby!)
Nitti brings a pretty diverse mix of experience in advertising, AI, and cloud to X. At Verizon Ventures, his responsibilities, according to his LinkedIn profile, “spanned the Verizon ecosystem, including marketing, consumer, business, and global network technologies.” 5G, computing, AI, IoT, adtech—it seems like he kind of did it all. (FWIW, Verizon Ventures halted new investments in September.)
Nitti joined Verizon in 2015 as Chief Media Officer, overseeing… a lot. In addition to media strategy, sponsorships, and digital marketing, he also led paid search, SEO, programmatic buying, and overall media investments across platforms. Clearly, he’s used to wearing many hats, which will be an asset for X as it works to boost its ad business after a tough few years and diversify revenue.
Before Verizon, Nitti spent seven years at Zenith, where he held several senior roles, including Chief Investment Officer.
Why This Matters:
In 2023, X made its first foray into programmatic by partnering with third-party adtech platforms like InMobi, Google Ad Manager, and, very recently, PubMatic. According to a December Reddit thread, DSPs StackAdapt and Basis are now accessing X inventory programmatically through the PubMatic relationship, with more platforms expected to follow.
Expanding its inventory programmatically seems core to Nitti’s role—and for good reason. According to EMARKETER, programmatic spend in the U.S. grew nearly 20% year-over-year in 2024, three times faster than non-programmatic. Opening programmatic access will make it easier for advertisers to include X in its programmatic campaigns and streamline buying, in general.
Experts React:
Here’s a video of Nitti from a few years ago that sheds light on how he thinks about advertising and marketing. It’s old but helpful.
Our Take:
We’ve been vocal about X being likely set up for a good year. The trends are coming together in their favor—fewer brand concerns about content moderation, the election, and more—but they’re making moves too, with the expansion of programmatic inventory and now this hire specifically focused on ad innovation. All signs point to a stronger 2025. (And the very least, Verizon will probably be back on the platform!)
