It took 11 years since Facebook acquired it for $19 billion, but Meta is finally bringing ads to WhatsApp, marking a major change for an app whose founders shunned advertising.
KEY POINTS
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to make WhatsApp a big business involve online ads, marking a major change for the communications app whose previous owners shunned advertising.
- The debut of ads on the messaging app represents a step in Zuckerberg’s intentions to make WhatsApp “the next chapter” in his company’s history.
- Additionally, Meta will begin monetizing WhatsApp’s Channels feature through search ads and subscriptions.
WhatsApp is rolling out ads. Meta announced that it will now show ads from businesses through its Stories-like status feature.
The status feature lives within WhatsApp’s “Updates” tab and allows users to share disappearing text, photo, voice notes, or video messages. But now, you might see sponsored content in addition to the updates shared by friends or family members.
Meta had been considering bringing advertising to WhatsApp for years now, an idea its founders were entirely against. Though Meta reversed plans to roll out in-app ads in 2020, WhatsApp head Will Cathcart confirmed in 2023 that the company was still working on an implementation. Last year, Meta mademore than $160 billion in ad revenue.
Meta says it will tailor the ads to your interests by using “limited” information, including your country or city, language, the channels you follow, and how you interact with ads on the platform. You can also change your ad preferences from Meta’s Accounts Center if you’ve opted into the hub.
“We’ve been talking about our plans to build a business that does not interrupt your personal chats for years and we believe the Updates tab is the right place for these new features to work,” Meta writes in its update. The company says it “will never sell or share your phone numbers to advertisers,” adding that it won’t use your messages, calls, or groups to inform its ads.
This isn’t the only change Meta is making to WhatsApp. The company will also start showing promoted channels when you click on the Explore button to find new ones to follow. It’s also rolling out the ability to subscribe to channels to “receive exclusive updates” as well.
