Meta Says “Not Exploring Ads On WhatsApp” Anytime Soon

Date: September 15, 2023

Meta has disputed multiple media reports claiming that the tech giant is exploring Ads on WhatsApp. See what they have to say.

WhatsApp has been active in the news trend for over a month. From the latest updates in security to introducing new features, the social messaging app stays active in general public conversations. Recent media reports claimed that Meta is exploring ways to utilize ads on WhatsApp, the only platform where no ads have been placed yet. But Meta has disputed these claims and said that they are neither working on it nor are there any such plans in their sight.

Financial Times, a news and media organization, has reported that the internal teams were exploring ways to generate monetization as the social platform has an active user base of over 2 billion people globally. 

Meta’s Response

After these news articles went viral, Meta came forward with a firm denial of such action. It also explained in detail its monetization plans to prevent future controversies. Meta has clearly resisted the idea of showing ads on WhatsApp for general users. Instead, it is planning to monetize from the merchant network on WhatsApp Business. On WhatsApp Business, a separate application from WhatsApp, Meta plans to offer certain services at a nominal price. WhatsApp Business, as of today, has over 200 million daily users.

Most WhatsApp users have been bombarded with an annual fee structure that has never been implemented on WhatsApp for over a decade. Even if they showed a deadline, post which a certain amount was chargeable to continue using the services, in the end, WhatsApp kept the services free for all.

Meta’s Actual Monetization Plan

In February, Meta announced changes in the pricing structure and messaging categories on WhatsApp Business, intending to provide exclusive benefits to merchants. These service offerings include utilities, payment authentications like One-Time-Password, marketing opportunities, and user-initiated conversations around their services.

WhatsApp Business’ Q3 reports in marketing stated that the "Click-To-WhatsApp” button had an annual revenue run rate of $1.5 Billion with an 80% year-on-year growth. The company is also planning a personalized messaging model for merchants, facilitating peer-to-peer interactions and customer-to-merchant payment gateways in countries like India, Brazil, and Singapore. 

With WhatsApp Business users reaching 200M MAU and GenAI customer service tools being tested out, Meta appears to be taking steps towards monetizing the 2Bn+ active users on WhatsApp. Click to Message is already running at a 10B+ revenue run rate while training users and businesses to interact within WhatsApp. 

- AllianceBernstein’s

The company is also exploring ways to integrate payments in its recently launched broadcast channels feature. This will allow users to make faster transactions directly from WhatsApp for things like concert tickets of their favorite celebrities, match passes of the Indian Cricket team’s upcoming sessions, and much more.