WhatsApp has officially launched a suite of new features aimed at helping businesses and creators grow on the platform. The most notable addition is the introduction of ads in the Status section, which will now appear under the Updates tab—a space used by over 1.5 billion people daily. These ads will allow users to discover new businesses and initiate conversations directly from the ad itself. Alongside this, WhatsApp is rolling out Channel Subscriptions, enabling users to support their favorite creators or organizations by paying a monthly fee for exclusive updates. Admins will also benefit from Promoted Channels, a feature that boosts visibility in the channel directory, helping them reach a broader audience. Importantly, WhatsApp emphasizes that personal chats, calls, and groups remain end-to-end encrypted and will not be used to personalize ads. Instead, ad targeting will rely on limited data such as country, language, followed channels, and user interaction with ads. Users who’ve linked WhatsApp to their Meta Accounts Center may also see ads based on preferences from other Meta platforms. This marks a significant shift in WhatsApp’s monetization strategy, long speculated since Meta’s acquisition of the platform. With these updates, WhatsApp is positioning itself as a more robust platform for business discovery and creator monetization—without compromising user privacy in personal conversations.
WhatsApp Rolls Out Ads in Status and Paid Channel Subscriptions to Boost Business Engagement
