Ads are coming to WhatsApp as Meta accelerates revenue push

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Facebook parent Meta announced on June 16 that it will be introducing ads and subscriptions to WhatsApp in the coming months, as the social networking giant seeks to accelerate its push to monetise its most expensive acquisition.

The ads will appear in WhatsApp's Updates tab, which houses Channels, its broadcast feature, and Status, used to share photos, videos, and voice notes that disappear after 24 hours. WhatsApp claimed that over 1.5 billion users are currently using the Updates tab, which was first introduced in 2023.

The world's largest messaging app, however, also noted that users' personal messages, calls, and statuses will remain end-to-end encrypted, and therefore cannot be used to show ads.

"If you just use WhatsApp for personal messaging, then you won't see them," Alice Newton-Rex, Vice President and Head of Product at WhatsApp, said in a select media roundtable.

Ads in Status will be similar to those that already appear in Instagram Stories, inserted between other Status updates. The feature will allow Channels and businesses to show ads that let users send a message and start a conversation about a product or service being promoted.

To show these ads, Newton-Rex stated that WhatsApp will use limited information like the user's city or country, language, channels they are following and how they interact with the ads they see on the messaging app. For people who have chosen to add WhatsApp to Meta's Accounts Center, the app will also use their ad preferences and info from across their Meta accounts.

Meta is also introducing Promoted Channels that will enable people to increase the visibility of their channels and attract new followers. These channels will be promoted through WhatsApp's channel directory with a sponsored label displayed below the channel name.

Newton-Rex said WhatsApp will slowly roll out the features to users globally, starting in the next couple of months.

"For users on the Updates tab, we will be giving them a chance to read our new policy about this, and we're not going to hurry people. We want to make sure they have a chance to read and accept it" she said.

In addition, the social networking giant will enable channel owners to offer subscriptions, offering exclusive updates for a monthly fee. The payments will be facilitated through Google and Apple's mobile app stores.

Newton-Rex mentioned that the ability to offer subscriptions will initially be available to select Channels at launch followed by a wider rollout in the future.

Read: Meta India head Sandhya Devanathan on why India is a key market for WhatsApp Business, AI initiatives

WhatsApp Ads: Years in the making

Meta, which acquired WhatsApp for a staggering $19 billion in 2014, has been mulling plans to introduce ads on the messaging app for several years now.

In 2018, WhatsApp’s then-Vice President Chris Daniels announced plans to introduce ads in the Status feature, with a planned 2020 rollout. Meta’s push to bring ads to the messaging app was, in fact, one of the key reasons co-founder Jan Koum left the company that same year.

Meta (then Facebook) later shelved these plans in 2020, fearing user backlash over privacy concerns. Instead, it shifted focus to monetising WhatsApp through business messaging, which is now a strategic priority as the company looks to diversify beyond digital advertising.

India, which is one of the largest markets for paid messaging globally, has been central to this growth in recent years.

"Until now, we've been focusing on two businesses - paid messaging and click-to-WhatsApp advertising. We've built each of those businesses into the billions...This felt like the next natural evolution, now that both have scaled to help people discover businesses directly within WhatsApp," Newton-Rex said.

"We believe the Updates tab is the right place for these new features to work...it's often where people go when they are looking to discover something new," she added.

Newton-Rex mentioned that they have been receiving similar feedback from businesses "For example, Flipkart has already been using WhatsApp to foster connections with their customers, and they see these ads in Channels and Status as an opportunity to strengthen their customer relationships" she said.

With WhatsApp recently surpassing 3 billion monthly users and Meta investing heavily in attracting small businesses to the platform, these features are expected to significantly boost the company’s future revenues. Meta reported advertising revenue of $41.4 billion in Q1 2025, a 16.2 percent increase from $35.6 billion revenue in the same quarter last year.