Meta’s grip on the messaging world tightened this week with the announcement of its first AI-driven ad-targeting program for businesses on WhatsApp. This move signals a significant shift for the encrypted messaging platform, renowned for its focus on privacy and its resistance to the targeted advertising prevalent on Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s other major properties.
The announcement, delivered by CEO Mark Zuckerberg via video at a conference in Brazil, underscores Meta’s growing urgency to unlock the revenue potential of WhatsApp, its most widely used app in terms of daily active users. Despite its immense popularity and the hefty $22 billion acquisition price tag in 2014, WhatsApp has so far contributed minimally to Meta’s overall revenue stream.
This new initiative aims to change that. Previously, businesses on WhatsApp could only utilize “business messaging” tools to send blanket messages to users who had opted in to receive communication. These tools lacked precision and offered little control over who received the messages.
The new AI-powered program promises a more sophisticated approach. By leveraging user behaviour data from Facebook and Instagram (assuming users have opted-in with the same phone number across platforms), Meta can now target WhatsApp business messages to individuals more likely to be interested in the content. This targeted approach benefits both businesses, who can optimize their advertising spend, and users, who are less likely to be bombarded with irrelevant marketing messages.
“This is very important for business because they are paying for those messages,” said Guilherme Horn, WhatsApp’s head of strategic markets, highlighting the value proposition for businesses.
Meta’s ambitions for WhatsApp extend beyond advertising. The company also unveiled a new AI chatbot designed to handle basic customer inquiries directly within WhatsApp chats. This pilot program aligns with Zuckerberg’s vision of businesses increasingly relying on automated tools for customer communication. The chatbot, similar to existing AI-powered customer service platforms, will address frequent user requests such as locating product catalogues or confirming business hours.
Furthermore, Meta announced the integration of PIX, Brazil’s central bank-designed digital payment system, into its WhatsApp payment tool. This strategic move brings a popular local competitor under the Meta umbrella. PIX represents a significant portion of Brazil’s digital transactions, offering functionalities similar to WhatsApp payments, including person-to-person transfers and in-store purchases. This integration mirrors a similar strategy Meta deployed in India last year, where it incorporated rival payment providers within its WhatsApp payment service.
By introducing AI-powered advertising and chatbots, as well as embracing local payment solutions like PIX, Meta is making a multi-pronged attack to unlock the vast revenue potential of WhatsApp. While questions remain regarding user privacy and the potential saturation of marketing messages, Meta’s latest moves undeniably mark a significant step towards monetizing its most ubiquitous messaging platform.
