Popular messaging platform WhatsApp is set to start showing its users advertisements on its Status feature, in addition to several other changes meant to boost the platform’s revenues.
In addition to ads, the platform has also introduced channel subscriptions, where users can subscribe for exclusive updates, and promoted channels, giving admins a way to boost visibility.The platform’s parent company Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, has said that it is introducing ways “to help admins, organizations, and businesses grow on WhatsApp.”This is the latest development in a long-running plan by Meta to introduce advertising on the popular messaging platform as it seeks to diversify its revenue streams.
“These new features will appear only on the Updates tab, away from your personal chats,” the platform said in a statement.
To get ahead of privacy concerns, the platform has said that it will only use ‘limited info’ including country or city, language, channels users’ follow, and how one interacts with the ads they see. Data privacy concerns about what data points Meta’s algorithms use to target ads abound across its other platforms.
In 2023, Facebook made US$26.63 per user, while its sister company Instagram made US $23.58 per user. Since acquiring the platform for US$19 billion in 2014, Meta has only been generating revenue from the WhatsApp Business platform and click-to-Whatsapp ads, and in some markets such as India and Brazil, an integrated payment platform called WhatsApp Pay.
Founded in 2009, WhatsApp’s revenue model originally included either a US$1 download fee or a US $1 per year subscription fee, depending on the country. Meta made it free to use in 2016, ushering in an era of growth that has seen its usage grow to 1.5 billion users a day.
In early June, Meta announced that it would roll out artificial intelligence tools for advertisers by the end of 2026. The AI tools, which are still in development, will allow advertisers to create ads on the advertising platform. The plan added onto the ongoing disruption of the traditional advertising sector, as Silicon Valley giants Meta, Alphabet and Amazon continue their dominance of advertising revenue.