There will soon be ads on WhatsApp as well. After it kept being free to use for years, some voices started speaking about just how Facebook will start monetizing WhatsApp, one of the most popular mobile messaging apps which was purchased by the tech giant for $19 billion back in 2014.
The Economic Times from India spoke with Chris Daniels, the vice president of WhatsApp, and he revealed that the company will go ahead and start putting ads in the ‘Status’ feature of the app. According to the report, when speaking with reporters in India, Daniels told them that “We are going to be putting ads in ‘Status’. That is going to be primary monetization mode for the company as well as an opportunity for businesses to reach people on WhatsApp.”
Status
This feature is WhatsApp’s version of Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook Stories and it consists of quick videos and photos that disappear after 24 hours. Snapchat already allowed ads to be played between its stories and Instagram permits companies to sponsor stories with those posts while featuring a line of text saying that they are part of a ‘paid partnership’ with that certain sponsor.
Having a lot of users means ads
Back in January, Facebook announced that WhatsApp had 1.5 billion users every month. This app has been free to use for everyone since 2016 when it let go of the annual $1 fee for users after they finished their first year of business.
Daniels gave no further details relevant to the update and where should we expect it to arrive. Previously, the company told the Wall Street Journal that it is possible to see ‘Statuses’ with ads starting with next year. This shift seems to have been among the reasons why Brian Acton, one of the app’s co-founders, left Facebook last year.
Juana loves to cover the tech and gaming industry, she always stays on the first row of CES conference and reports live from there.
