Blitz Bureau
After years of providing free services without any bells attached, WhatsApp is now going to start showing ads on the popular chat app. To be clear, users will only see ads on the Status screen — the app’s take on Instagram’s Stories.
So just like one sees an ad after watching a few stories on Instagram, users will see ads on WhatsApp after they have scrolled through a few Status updates.
The company said that its ad mechanism uses signals like users’ country or city, language, and the channels they’re following, as well as data from ads that users interact with.
Meta said it is not using personally identifiable data, such as users’ phone numbers, messages, calls, and groups to serve targeted ads. If a user has added their WhatsApp account to Meta’s Account Center, the company will use their Account preferences to show ads.
Status screen to show advertisements soon
The company said it is allowing companies and users to promote their Channels, WhatsApp’s broadcast feature, in the discovery section, and that it would allow select creators and businesses to charge users a subscription to unlock exclusive updates on Channels. The company said these subscription payments will be facilitated by app stores.
Meta said that over 1.5 billion people use Status and Channels per day.
So far, WhatsApp has generated revenue via its WhatsApp Business platform and click-to-WhatsApp ads. Meta has repeatedly mentioned these as growing channels of revenue in its last few quarterly earnings calls.
Alice Newton-Rex, VP of product at WhatsApp, said in a briefing ads are a fitting extension of the app’s revenue streams.
“[The new ads and promotion products] felt like the next natural evolution, now that both those businesses have scaled to help people discover businesses directly within WhatsApp. And that was what we were increasingly hearing from businesses that they wanted to do as well,” she said.
WhatsApp said ads and these features will roll out globally in the coming months.
Meta appoints Arun Srinivas as India head
Meta has appointed Arun Srinivas as the Managing Director and head for the company in India, days after its vice-president and head of public policy in the country, Shivnath Thukral, stepped down.
Srinivas’s appointment also follows the recent announcement of Sandhya Devanathan taking on an expanded role of leading both India and South East Asia. He will transition to his new role from July 1, 2025, and will continue to report to Devanathan.
Srinivas will focus on bringing the organisation’s business, innovation, and revenue priorities together to serve partners and clients, while continuing to support the long-term growth of Meta’s business and commitment to India, the company said in a blog post.