Facebook “will no longer push through with its plans to sell ads on WhatsApp,” writes Engadget, citing a report in the Wall Street Journal which says WhatsApp still “plans at some point to introduce ads to Status.”
Newsweek reports:
WhatsApp is the only app in Facebook’s suite of products free from ads, which make up a vast amount of the parent company’s revenue, bringing in the majority of its $17.65 billion during Q3 last year. Like rival apps Snapchat or TikTok, advertising features prominently in Messenger and Instagram. But what does it mean for Facebook? The impact of a delayed WhatsApp ad roll-out will not only mean a financial hit, but may also disrupt how much ad data Facebook can possibly extract from users of the app’s desktop and web versions.
Currently, Facebook does not charge people for access to its products. Instead, it monetizes personal information by selling details about user preferences to companies for use in targeted ads. And there is clearly money to be made via mobile-based ads, which brought in about 94 percent of Facebook’s total ad revenue during the third quarter of last year… “My assessment of this is it will be a delayed introduction of ads,” social media consultant and commentator Matt Navarra told Newsweek today… “With the current climate of unrest surrounding data privacy and Facebook’s plans to integrate its messaging apps backend, as well as the many legal battles they are facing, I suspect they are being cautious with yet more activity that could ruffle feathers at this time,” Navarra told Newsweek. “But it’s a case of when they do launch ads in WhatsApp, not if,” he predicted.
The ad strategy sparked clashes between Facebook executives and WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton, and became a factor in their departures from the firm. Koum and Acton, pro-privacy technologists, reportedly feared the app’s encryption could be put at risk.
of this story at Slashdot.
Source:: Slashdot