Facebook owned messaging service WhatsApp, is set to start serving advertisements to users next year. The revelation was made by Facebook at her annual Marketing Summit in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
The ads will be featured within the WhatsApp Status area, similar to how ads are being served on Instagram's Stories.
According to Matt Navarra who was at the Facebook Marketting Summit in Rotterdam, ads will start appearing on WhatsApp Stories in 2020, WhatsApp for Business will also get a richer messaging format options, while WhatsApp product catalog will be integrated with existing Facebook Business catalog.
Presentation slide images shared by Navarra shows that the ads will look similar to native statuses on the instant messaging app. The images shows that the ads would be shown on the entire screen, and may include a link that will appear after swiping up the screen....similar to the way ads are being served on Instagram stories.Coming Soon to @WhatsApp...— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) May 21, 2019
- WhatsApp Status (Stories) to get Ads in 2020
- WhatsApp for Businesses to get richer messaging format options
- WhatsApp product catalog to be integrated with existing Facebook Business Manager catalog
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at #FMS19 pic.twitter.com/Z5LsbADNbP
Last year, there were several rumour which suggested that Facebook has plans to push ads to WhatsApp. The arrival of WhatsApp beta version 2.18.305 for Android which came with the implementation to serve ads in the status Section further solidified the claims. The iPhone version of the messaging app also has the implementation to serve ads.
Apart from the ability to serve ads in the Status section, WhatsApp will also improving the experience for its Business users. As per Navarra post, WhatsApp for Business will soon get a richer messaging format options- that is, users will be able to share images and PDF files along with their text messages through the app.
Last on the list, the product catalog on WhatsApp will be integrated within existing Facebook Business Manager catalog.