In a bid to empower creators and businesses, WhatsApp has rolled out new monetization features that enable users to earn revenue directly from their audience. The platform has introduced three key features: Channel Subscriptions, Promoted Channels, and Ads in Status.
Channel Subscriptions: Exclusive Content for a Fee
With Channel Subscriptions, creators can charge a monthly fee for exclusive content, allowing them to earn revenue directly from their audience. This feature is expected to benefit popular creators, news outlets, and sports teams, who can now offer premium content to their loyal followers.
Promoted Channels: Boosting Visibility
The Promoted Channels feature enables creators and businesses to increase their channels’ visibility within WhatsApp’s directory. By paying for promotions, they can reach a broader audience interested in their content, thereby expanding their reach and influence.
Ads in Status: Targeted Advertising
WhatsApp has also introduced Ads in Status, allowing businesses to place targeted ads in the Status feature. These ads enable users to discover new products or services and initiate direct conversations with advertisers. The ads will be targeted based on limited user information, such as country, city, language, and channel interactions.
Protecting User Privacy
Meta has emphasized that personal messages, calls, and groups will remain end-to-end encrypted, and user privacy will be protected. The company won’t sell or share phone numbers with advertisers, ensuring that users’ sensitive information remains secure.
The rollout of these features is gradual, and businesses and channel administrators can access more information through official WhatsApp Business resources. This move is expected to create new revenue streams for creators and businesses while maintaining WhatsApp’s commitment to user privacy.
Benefits
- New Revenue Streams: Creators and businesses can earn revenue directly from their audience.
- Increased Visibility: Promoted Channels and Ads in Status can help creators and businesses reach a broader audience.
- Monetization Opportunities: These features provide new opportunities for creators and businesses to monetize their content and audience.
User Privacy
- End-to-End Encryption: Personal messages, calls, and groups will remain end-to-end encrypted.
- Limited Ad Targeting: Ads will be targeted based on limited user information, such as country, city, language, and channel interactions.
These features aim to provide new monetization opportunities for creators and businesses while maintaining user privacy and WhatsApp’s core messaging experience.
