Last Updated: September 15, 2023, 11:55 IST
Palo Alto, California, USA
WhatsApp is reportedly exploring ads for its users
WhatsApp is the most-popular messaging app in the market and its parent company seems to have explored the idea of bringing ads to the platform.
WhatsApp is exploring bringing ads to the messaging app for users on their chat screens. The news got everyone’s attention and understandably so. The Meta-owned chat app has reportedly flirted with the idea of showing ads on the popular platform.
Facebook (now part of Meta) had paid a whopping $13 billion to buy WhatsApp which everyone thought was way beyond its value back then. But WhatsApp caters to billions of users across the globe, and its active daily user base has grown exponentially with more to come in the future.
The data garnered through these users has surely made WhatsApp a bargain for Meta but reports have talked about the company now looking to boost its revenue channels via WhatsApp. However, the WhatsApp chief was quick to refute those reports and claim that the news is false and that Meta has no plans to bring ads to WhatsApp.
The report from FT highlighted that Meta wants to show ads on WhatsApp between your chats. But Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp at Meta shared this post as a rebuttal to the FT report on Friday. He says WhatsApp is not planning to bring ads for users but doesn’t completely rule out showing ads on the messaging app in the future.
Meta owning WhatsApp makes it hard to go on the company’s face value and recent history makes our doubts stronger. Meta had recently started a subscription service called Verified which allows people to pay to get verified (blue tick) on Facebook and Instagram. What’s to say that the company won’t backtrack on its promise and eventually bring ads to WhatsApp as well? After all, WhatsApp is owned by Meta which is running a business.
The messaging app has a slew of features that have the potential to become part of a subscription service. We are hoping that day doesn’t come anytime soon but cannot be completely ruled out.
