Even Whatsapp, world’s largest messenger app, couldn’t resist the charm of advertisement based revenues.
Confirmed news is coming in, regarding advertisement on Whatsapp, and hardcore users may not like it.
Advertisement on Whatsapp Statuses
Just like Instagram and Facebook stories, Whatsapp has Status feature wherein users can share an image/video which exists for 24 hours.
Now, Whatsapp plans to place advertisements on these statuses, posted by users.
This will be Whatsapp’s first attempt at generating revenues on their platform.
WhatsApp vice president Chris Daniels has confirmed this development about ‘Status Ads’, as he had said, “We are going to be putting ads in ‘Status’. That is going to be primary monetisation mode for the company as well as an opportunity for businesses to reach people on WhatsApp.”
This was shared by Chris earlier this year, but now, as 2019 has started, this seems more real than ever.
Some users have complained, and have infact threatened that they will shift to Telegram, if Whatsapp decided to put ads.
Here is one such user:
Whatsapp CEO Had Quit Over Advertisements
In April this year, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum had quit Facebook, over disagreements on advertisements and privacy issues. It seems that Facebook was keen to introduce advertisements on Whatsapp, and Jan disagreed.
Ever since Whatsapp was founded, both co-founders; Jan and Brian Acton had promised that Whatsapp will never include advertisements.
But things changed once Facebook became their owners.
In 2014, when Facebook acquired Whatsapp, Brian had said, “You can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication. There would have been no partnership between our two companies if we had to compromise on the core principles that will always define our company, our vision and our product,”
Rumors about Whatsapp’s advertisements had started to emerge in November last year, but now, it seems that this will eventually happen, faster than we thought.
In 2016, Whatsapp had admitted that they will share users’ numbers with Facebook, whether they like it or not.
Whatsapp already has a business solution vertical, wherein brands and corporates can use Whatsapp for interacting with their customers and share updates/latest offers. They charge 34 paisa per message, and their clients can use Whatsapp API to create targeted chats and UI.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.