It was actually only a matter of time: WhatsApp, the most popular messenger among young people, was losing its ad-free virginity.
In a conversation with the German Press Agency (dpa), WhatsApp managing director Matt Idema announced that he would integrate advertising into the messenger app from 2019. The advertising revenue should do its part to bring WhatsApp out of the loss zone.
No advertising in chat
You write about your favorite music, and advertising for it pops up in the chat? Don't worry, it won't be that annoying after all. The advertising should appear in the status message , not in the chat itself. That status message is currently used by around 450 million messenger users for short texts, photos, videos and animated GIFs, which disappear after 24 hours.
Optionally switchable
There should also be an option for users to switch off this advertising. Apparently it is calculated that there are enough users who are not bothered by the advertising and leave it activated.
The founders were against it
The founders of the popular messenger, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, have repeatedly spoken out against an ad-financed messenger model in the past. has left the Facebook Group in April , there is no one left who directly speaks out against that advertising model.
WhatsApp is expanding
At the same time, WhatsApp announced in a blog post that it would expand the WhatsApp Business app. The version that is specifically intended to connect larger companies and customers with each other will receive new and expanded tools and will remain ad-free.
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