In September, WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart denied a report that Meta was planning to run ads on the messaging app. However, it turns out he was hiding something when he called the report “false.” The company still has plans for ads on WhatsApp, it just won’t be placing them in the main inbox. The plan is to run ads in other places within the app, like statuses and channels.
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Meta has been planning to bring ads to WhatsApp for several years, at least since 2018 when the company was still called Facebook. The company wanted to launch the pilot program in 2020, but it didn’t work out. There hasn’t been much talk since then. However, the social media behemoth has never dismissed the idea. After all, online advertising is a very lucrative market. With WhatsApp’s popularity (more than two billion users worldwide), Meta could make a fortune.
Cathcart has now confirmed that WhatsApp ads are still in the works. He revealed the plans in a recent interview with Brazilian publication Folha De S.Paulo. When asked about his “false” remark in the aforementioned report, he said, “The article claimed that we would place ads in the inbox. We don’t do that, we don’t discuss it. We don’t think that’s the right model. When people open their inbox, they don’t want to see ads.”
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However, “ there could be ads in other places – in channels or in statuses ,” Cathcart added. “ For example, channels might charge users to subscribe, they might be paid membership-only, or the owners might want to promote the channel. But, no, we won’t put ads in your inbox ,” he explained . The WhatsApp chief didn’t give us a timeline for when ads might start appearing on the messaging app
WhatsApp reportedly didn't move forward with the original plan in 2020 due to fears that users might have privacy concerns .However, Meta knows that ads on the messaging app will be a significant revenue stream. It appears to be gradually moving towards that goal while addressing privacy-focused user concerns by keeping ads out of the inbox.
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In the interview, Cathcart also talked about WhatsApp’s AI plans. He said AI stickers and AI chat agents are some of the features that make conversations more fun. WhatsApp also plans to expand the availability of its advanced AI customer service agents for businesses .Cathcart said the company is working with industry partners like Microsoft to evaluate and train the AI to respond correctly without bias.
Source: androidheadlines
