WhatsApp CEO, Will Cathcart, revealed the platform’s intentions regarding advertisements in an interview with Brazilian media, he indicated that the company does not plan to display ads within chats, although there is a possibility that they might appear in different locations, hinting that ads could still be shown in statuses or channels.
Previously, in September, WhatsApp’s CEO vehemently denied a report from the Financial Times suggesting that the chat application, owned by Meta, had plans to show ads.
Cathcart explained to Brazilian media that showing ads within chats is not the right model, saying, “There may be ads in other places, like channels or statuses, channels might charge people for subscriptions, or be exclusive to paying members, or the owners may want to promote the channel, but we won’t place ads within chats.”
Cathcart proposed the possibility of presenting ads in statuses or channels, but this does not confirm their imminent arrival, WhatsApp experimented with ads in statuses in 2019 in a trial version, but they were not introduced in the general release.
WhatsApp has discussed adding ads to statuses for a few years, but the company has not introduced them thus far.
Cathcart discussed the addition of ads to channels and statuses as a possibility, but nothing has been officially launched by the company yet.
A spokesperson for Meta told TechCrunch that the company is not currently testing status ads in any country, although Meta has not issued an official statement on the matter.
When WhatsApp introduced the feature to broadcast channels earlier this year, they indicated they were exploring tools like channel directory promotions.
Meta has not provided any details regarding plans to launch ads in any of its products, including statuses, channels, or a release date for such a feature.
So far, WhatsApp has relied on the business version of the application and “click to chat on WhatsApp” ads within other platforms like Facebook to generate revenue, despite having over two billion users worldwide.
