WhatsApp unlocks new revenue streams, rolls out paid subscriptions, and more

What you need to know

• WhatsApp detailed an update for its Updates tab that focuses on delivering tools to businesses for growth.
• "Ads in Status" lets businesses directly promote themselves and reach new users when used in tandem with its new "Promoted Channels" feature.
• WhatsApp is also introducing "Channel subscriptions," which lets creators deliver exclusive content to those who pay a monthly fee.

WhatsApp is rolling out an update today (June 16) for big and small businesses alike, and the people behind them who are looking to grow.

In a blog post, WhatsApp highlights its achievement of 1.5 billion active users per day, which it sees as a major catalyst for the latest Updates tab enhancements. To help businesses grow, the Meta-owned service is launching "Ads in Status." With this new feature, the post states its purpose is to "encourage" better/quicker communication between potential new customers and the business in question.

WhatsApp published a new business-focused page, stating people who have created a Channel for their business can also utilize it.

The platform states the ads it provides were built with "privacy in mind." To display ads you might be interested in, WhatsApp states it does collect limited info like your country or city, language, the Channels you’re following, and how you interact with the ads you see." However, WhatsApp reiterates its commitment to keeping your texts, calls, and statuses private through end-to-end encryption (E2EE).

Joining "Ads in Status" is WhatsApp's new "Promoted Channels" feature. As previously stated, the app will use some limited data on you to determine what content you might be interested in seeing/interacting with. These promoted channels will appear when browsing your Update tab's "Channel" category.

Making Business Moves

WhatsApp is bringing one more feature to its Updates tab in June, called "Channel Subscriptions." Now, if there's a channel making content you enjoy, WhatsApp is letting you (and them) offer support for "exclusive updates" for a monthly fee. These fees will likely be left up to the admin of the channel that's offering exclusive content for its subscribers.

These three updates were announced today (June 16), so they should've started rolling out already. However, it might take a little while, so just ensure WhatsApp is updated on your phone or tablet as the week continues.

Rolling out business-focused content updates isn't anything new for WhatsApp, as the platform brought in-app shopping capabilities a while ago. This was an update in 2023 that let users purchase items from merchants in WhatsApp through its business platform. The service made its payment functions easier and also implemented a verification process to bring users some comfort. Elsewhere, in the past few months, Meta discussed new business tools that use generative AI.

Essentially, business owners and advertisers could utilize generative AI to create images and text. A test for this started on Facebook and Instagram late last year, with WhatsApp in its sights.