Meta Platforms Inc. has announced plans to introduce advertisements within WhatsApp, marking a new strategy for monetizing the messaging platform.

The ads will be featured in the “Updates” tab, which includes WhatsApp’s Status feature, similar to disappearing stories found on other social media platforms.

The Updates tab, accessed by around 1.5 billion users daily, will allow advertisers to promote their WhatsApp Channels for greater visibility. Channels enable users to broadcast messages to followers, and a subscription option will soon be available for exclusive content.

Although Meta will initially refrain from taking a share of subscription sales, the company intends to eventually claim 10% of the revenue.

This initiative comes as Meta continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence, including a US$14.3 billion stake in Scale AI, a data labeling startup.

WhatsApp ads will be targeted using various factors, including user location, language settings, and followed Channels. The global rollout of ads on WhatsApp begins this week, with further availability expected to expand over time.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ WhatsApp’s journey from anti-ad platform to Meta’s revenue source

The introduction of ads represents the culmination of a decade-long transition from WhatsApp’s founding principles to Meta’s business imperatives.

When Brian Acton and Jan Koum founded WhatsApp in 2009, they explicitly positioned it as an ad-free alternative, emphasizing user privacy and a simple business model of charging $1 per year after a free first year 1.

After Facebook’s US$19 billion acquisition in 2014, both founders eventually left the company, Koum in 2018 and Acton in 2017, due to disagreements with Meta’s data practices and monetization plans 2.

The gradual shift from subscription fees (removed in 2016) to business messaging features and now advertising demonstrates Meta’s patient approach to transforming WhatsApp into a significant revenue generator while trying to maintain its massive user base.

2️⃣ Global strategy targeting markets where WhatsApp dominates communications

Meta’s ad introduction is strategically significant for international markets where WhatsApp functions as the primary communication platform rather than just another messaging app.

WhatsApp grew to over 2.2 billion users by 2021, with its largest market being India (487 million users), followed by significant penetration in Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa 34.