WhatsApp Introduces Ads in Its App

WhatsApp, which unveiled the changes at the Cannes Lions advertising industry conference, also said it was introducing paid monthly subscriptions for content creators, similar to offerings from competitors like X, YouTube and Twitch. The app will also let users and businesses advertise their “channels,” which are one-way broadcasts that can be sent to large groups of people.

In recent years, Meta has leaned into sources of untapped revenue. It introduced paid subscription services for creators on Instagram and Facebook, and is starting to show ads on Threads, its text-based social media app.

Meta also makes money from WhatsApp through its other products. On Facebook and Instagram, businesses can buy “click to message” advertising, which redirects users to WhatsApp or Messenger to chat directly with a business. It is a multibillion-dollar revenue stream.

Meta’s ad business is “in as strong a position now as it’s ever been,” said Brian Wieser, an analyst and founder of the consulting firm Madison and Wall. The company’s share of the global digital ad business is around 15 percent, he said. Last year, almost all of Meta’s $164 billion in revenue came from advertising.

Mr. Wieser said there was no precedent for directly commercializing a messaging app the size of WhatsApp, but added that it could be a large business opportunity. “It’s a market that doesn’t really exist right now,” he said.

WhatsApp, however, may not be able to charge as much for ads as Facebook and Instagram, which targets them by collecting vast amounts of user data, said Minda Smiley, a senior social media analyst at eMarketer, a market research firm.

“Since privacy has been such a tent pole of WhatsApp’s business model, I think there’s definitely some challenges” with pursuing an advertising model, she said.

WhatsApp has long promoted itself as a safe alternative to apps like Telegram and Google’s Android messaging. Users flocked to the app globally, finding it a cheap and secure alternative to texting, particularly people in unstable political climates and authoritarian countries, since its messages cannot be easily intercepted without access to personal devices.

The introduction of ads may call attention to WhatsApp’s previous stumbles with privacy. In 2021, the company proposed changes to its terms of service that some users interpreted as more data sharing. The revisions incited a global backlash.

This time, WhatsApp braced for pushback, saying any data sharing with other Meta-owned apps for ad targeting was optional. Users can choose to link their WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook accounts, so ads on WhatsApp can be based on data collected from those platforms, Ms. Srinivasan said.

Last week, WhatsApp joined Apple in a legal fight against regulators in Britain who have been trying to break encryption across messaging apps. British lawmakers have said the move is a way to protect citizens against illegal activity on the apps.

In a 2023 interview with The New York Times, Mr. Cathcart said he would fight “tooth and nail” against any country that wanted to weaken WhatsApp’s encryption.

“This is a bedrock of what we are,” he said. “It will never change, even as we add updates.”