By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
WhatsApp has announced a series of new features that will change the way people interact with brands on the Meta-owned messaging platform and give companies more chances to cash in on user engagement.
The changes, to be rolled out over the next few months according to Meta, expand and monetize the functions of WhatsApp’s “Updates” tab, which has historically been a place for users to follow news and updates from their favorite companies, news organizations and celebrities.
A new subscription model on the tab will allow channel admins to offer users exclusive content for a monthly fee.
“This means channel owners will be able to share exclusive in-the-moment updates with their most engaged followers, and they’ll be able to earn money while doing so,” said Nikila Srinivasan, vice president for product management at Meta said on a call with reporters.
The company committed to never selling or sharing phone numbers to advertisers and said personal messages, calls, and group memberships will not influence ad targeting.
“To show ads in Status or Channels, we’re going to use basic information like your country or city, your device language and your activity in the Updates tab,” Srinivasan said.
The introduction of advertising represents Meta’s effort to monetize WhatsApp’s massive user base of over two billion monthly active users.
This strategy aligns with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of messaging becoming the company’s “next major pillar” of business.
While Facebook and Instagram have long generated the bulk of Meta’s revenue through advertising, WhatsApp has remained largely ad-free and difficult to monetise, despite its global reach.
WhatsApp was acquired by Meta (then Facebook) for $19 billion in 2014, but its founders, Brian Acton and Jan Koum, famously resisted turning the app into an ad platform.