WhatsApp Announces Ads in Status, Channel Subscriptions, and More Features for Businesses

WhatsApp will now show ads from businesses, the company has announced. The Meta-owned instant messaging client has been said to be deliberating over bringing advertisements to its app for years now, going as far back as 2018. WhatsApp says it will use “limited info” such as the country, language, and followed Channels to personalise ads. Additionally, Channel subscriptions have also been announced, enabling users to support their favourite WhatsApp Channels, alongside Promoted Channels.

Ads on WhatsApp

WhatsApp detailed the changes coming to its Updates tab in a blog post. It introduces three key changes — Channel subscriptions, Promoted Channels, and Ads in Status, with all of them aimed at helping admins, organisations, and businesses grow on WhatsApp.

The Meta-owned app says Channel subscriptions let users support their favourite channels and receive exclusive updates by paying a monthly fee. Meanwhile, it will also help them discover new channels when searching through the directory. WhatsApp will do this by giving admins the ability to promote their Channel's visibility.

However, the most notable change is the inclusion of advertisements. These will appear in Status under the Updates tab, letting users discover new businesses and start a conversation about the product or service which they're promoting. WhatsApp says that ads will only be displayed in the Updates tab and not where the personal chats are.

This announcement brings an end to years of rumours and indications by WhatsApp towards the possibility of bringing ads to its instant messaging client. In 2018, former Vice President of WhatsApp Chris Daniels said that ads would be the “primary monetisation mode for the company”, giving businesses an opportunity to reach people. Then, Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp reiterated a couple of years ago that the implementation of ads was still in development, and now they've finally been rolled out.

As per the company, ads in Status or Channels will use limited information such as country, city, language, the Channels followed, and user's interaction habit with ads. It will also use ad preferences and information from other Meta accounts of users which have added WhatsApp to the Accounts Centre.

However, the instant messaging client emphasises that “ [It] will never sell or share your phone number to advertisers”. User's personal messages, calls and groups will not be used to personalise the ads.