WhatsApp has started introducing advertisements in the form of Status Ads and Promoted Channels.
With this feature, businesses can show ads in the "Status" section of the Update tab.
These ads look similar to regular status updates but are clearly labelled as advertisements. Users can view them like normal statuses and they can also skip the ad with a swipe.
It is worth mentioning that if someone finds the ads annoying or doesn't want to see them from a certain business, they can block that advertiser so their ads won't show up again.
WhatsApp is now allowing businesses and creators to pay for their channels to appear more visibly in the app's directory.
These promoted channels will show up at the top of the channel directory Also, each promoted channel will have a small label showing it's a paid promotion so users know it's an ad and not just a regular channels that appeared naturally.
Ads on WhatsApp will only appear in the Updates tab, not in your private chats, groups, communities or calls.
When a users gets access to these advertising features, they'll see a banner in the Updates section explaining what's new and if they tap the banner, WhatsApp will guide them through how these ads work.
The new feature is available to some beta testers who have installed the latest version of WhatsApp beta for iOS from the TestFlight app and it will be rolled out to more users in the future updates.
