WhatsApp to Show Ads in Status While Launching Paid Subscriptions and Promoted Channels
TL;DR:
- WhatsApp is adding new ways for users to discover and engage with content in the Updates tab.
- New features include paid channel subscriptions, promoted channels, and ads within Status.
- These changes won't affect personal chats and are designed with user privacy in mind.
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| Credit: WhatsApp Blog |
Meta plans to add advertisements to WhatsApp starting June 16, 2025, the company shared in an official blog post, but only within the Updates tab, which includes Status and one-way Channels. The change affects roughly 1.5 billion daily users of that section, crowding ads and monetization tools into a part of the app kept separate from private messages and calls.
Ads in Status
WhatsApp will show sponsored posts between Status updates from friends and followed Channels. Ad targeting will rely on basic information, such as city-level location, interface language, and which Channels users follow, not message content.
Privacy remains a cornerstone: messages, calls, groups, and Status posts stay fully end-to-end encrypted and won’t be used to determine ad targeting. WhatsApp officials emphasize that users who avoid the Updates tab can continue without encountering ads.
Paid Subscriptions and Promoted Channels
In addition to ads, WhatsApp will let channel administrators offer monthly paid subscriptions for exclusive content access, visible via a diamond icon. Creators will set their own prices. Yes, this enables WhatsApp monetization for millions of creators who own WhatsApp channels to finally make money directly on Whatsapp by sharing content that they have already been doing.
Channel Administrators can also pay for promoted listings in Channel directories to improve discoverability within WhatsApp’s ecosystem and boost their channel viewership to whatever heights they want.
Reasoning Behind the Shift
WhatsApp’s Updates tab has become a high-engagement space, used by 1.5 billion people daily. Meta believes ads and monetization here won’t intrude on personal chats and will generate revenue from a platform that has been largely untapped financially.
Meta’s head of business messaging, Nikila Srinivasan, said this model was designed to protect inbox privacy while tapping into user habits. Financial analysts at the Financial Times report that WhatsApp and Messenger still generate only a small share of Meta’s ad revenue, placing pressure on the company to diversify its income.
Reaction and Implications
WhatsApp’s founders, Brian Acton and Jan Koum, had firmly opposed advertising at launch.
Their stance, “No ads! No games! No gimmicks!” set an early tone that is now shifting after Meta’s 2014 acquisition.
While some users and regulators are wary about data protection, WhatsApp insists that phone numbers and message contents are never shared with advertisers, and targeting uses minimal data.
Here's what the company said:
"Your personal messages, calls, and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one (not even us) can see or hear them."
What Comes Next?
The feature rollout will be phased over the next few months with optionality at its core: users uninterested in Status updates or Channels can disable the tab altogether.
Businesses now have the opportunity to add paid promotion or subscription services within WhatsApp, creating new revenue channels for creators and small brands.
As WhatsApp has entered a new phase, one that introduces commercial content and revenue tools into a platform long celebrated for its simplicity and privacy.
The success of this direction will depend on whether Meta can balance user trust with business ambitions, and whether Whatsapp users accept ads so long as the sanctity of personal chat remains undisturbed.
