Skip to main content

WhatsApp will start showing ads on Status section, VP Chris Daniels confirms




Brace yourself for ads on WhatsApp. Chris Daniels, Vice President of WhatsApp, on Wednesday said that the company was going to monetise the service by allowing businesses to run advertisements.

“Facebook will start monetising WhatsApp, and show ads in the ‘Status’ section of the app”, Chris Daniels said. This is also in line with Facebook’s plan to monetise the ‘WhatsApp for Business’ app which is currently free for businesses. Facebook will charge companies for running ads on the platform. These ads will be interlinked to the advertiser’s profile on WhatsApp.

Chris was speaking on the sidelines of the platform’s partnership with Invest India to promote Indian startups. WhatsApp will offer $250,000 to five startups through the ‘WhatsApp StartUp Challenge’ .

Chris did not reveal a timeline for the roll-out of the advertisements but it’s reported to arrive early next year. According to a recent WSJ report, WhatsApp is currently being tested by around 100 companies.

It’s not clear how ads on WhatsApp will function, whether they will be shown randomly to users or if they will be targeted based on users’ interests.

WhatsApp, which is the world’s largest messaging application and has over 250 million users in India, has remained ads-free platform since its debut. Things, however, started to change after Facebook acquired the company in 2014 for $19 billion.

WhatsApp founder Brian Acton, who left Facebook in September 2017, earlier this month said that Mark Zuckerberg had planned to monetise WhatsApp by serving targeted ads.

“Targeted advertising is what makes me unhappy,” Acton told Forbes.

Acton also disclosed that he had proposed monetising WhatsApp through a metered-user model wherein users are charged after a certain limit of free messages is exhausted. His plans were turned down by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Alex Stamos, Chief Security Officer at Facebook, defended the company’s decision to generate revenue on WhatsApp.

“Eventually, WhatsApp is going to need to generate revenue... This could come from directly charging for the service, it could come from advertising, it could come from a WeChat-like services play. This first is very hard across countries, the latter two are complicated by E2E,” he said.


Source:- Hindustan times

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Paul Allen: Microsoft co-founder and billionaire dies aged 65

Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft, has died aged 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He had revealed the disease's return only two weeks ago, after previously being treated for it in 2009. He had said he and his doctors were "optimistic" about treatment. His Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said: "I am heartbroken by the passing of one of my oldest and dearest friends... Personal computing would not have existed without him." In a statement confirming his death on Monday afternoon, his sister Jody described the businessman as a "remarkable individual on every level". "Paul's family and friends were blessed to experience his wit, warmth, his generosity and deep concern. For all the demands on his schedule, there was always time for family and friends," the statement said. "At this time of loss and grief for us - and so many others - we are profoundly grateful for the care and concern he demonstrated...

Redmi Note 7 India Launch Date Confirmed, Xiaomi's Latest Will Launch on February 28

Redmi Note 7 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC It supports Super Night Scene Mode for low-light photography Redmi Note 7 has Quick Charge 4 support for fast charging The Redmi Note 7 is one of the most hotly anticipated smartphones from Xiaomi, and after making an impressive debut in the Chinese market, the smartphone is all set to arrive in India. Xiaomi on Thursday revealed that the Redmi Note 7 will be launched in India on February 28, and the company has already kicked off the registration process for purchasing tickets for the launch event. Xiaomi has been teasing the Redmi Note 7's India launch for quite some time and it finally made the launch date official via a tweet today. The Redmi Note7 was launched in January, packing capable hardware and bringing an attractive design at a competitive price point in typical  Xiaomi  fashion. The smartphone quickly became a major hit as the company reportedly sold 1 million units of the...

Redmi Go officially debuts, will cost just 4999

Xiaomi's first Android Go smartphone is official. The Redmi Go is based on Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition), comes in Black and Blue, and is heading to Europe and the Philippines in February. The phone packs a modest 5" 1280x720px LCD of the conventional 16:9 aspect, an 8MP main camera with LED flash and a 5MP selfie snapper. The Redmi Go is powered by a Snapdragon 425 with four Cortex-A53 cores running at 1.4GHz. There's 1GB of RAM and either 8GB or 16GB of storage, which can be expanded with a microSD card. The Redmi Go actually employs a hybrid slot so you can choose between extra storage and dual SIM support, but can't have both. XIaomi Redmi Go The battery on the Xiaomi Redmi Go has 3,000mAh capacity, which is very generous considering the tiny screen and modest chipset. Xiaomi Redmi Go The Xiaomi Redmi Go will go on sale in February at a price of €80 in Europe. Philipines pricing is yet to be confirmed as well as availability in other market...