WhatsApp, owned by Meta, is the world's largest social messaging app with nearly 100 billion messages exchanged daily. It's used globally, with a significant user base in countries like India, Indonesia, and Brazil. However, WhatsApp's adoption rate in the U.S. is lower, with most Americans not using it as their primary messaging platform.
Despite its popularity, WhatsApp doesn't generate significant revenue through advertising. Instead, it primarily earns revenue from business messaging, a service introduced in 2018. Large companies pay a fee to interact with customers on the platform, and this market is expected to be worth about $50 billion in the next four to five years.
WhatsApp's business model has been expanding in markets like Brazil, India, and Indonesia. It charges companies for every conversation they have with customers, with fees varying by country and type of conversation. The company is also introducing new features like channels and payments, allowing users to subscribe to updates from businesses and send money through the chat interface.
WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by former Yahoo employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum. The initial concept was for an app that would display statuses next to your contacts' names, but it quickly pivoted into a full messaging service. WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for $19 billion in 2014 and has since grown steadily.
The company has its sites set on business messaging for revenue growth. It charges medium to large companies for every conversation they have with customers. For example, in Brazil, a marketing conversation is 6.25 cents, an authentication conversation is 3.15 cents, a utility conversation is 3.5 cents, and a customer service conversation is three cents.
WhatsApp is also experimenting with monetizing messaging for small businesses. Small businesses like a hair salon or coffee shop can simply download and use the free WhatsApp business app. However, the company is rolling out paid premium features like the opportunity to build a WhatsApp website and the ability to access a corporate account on up to 10 devices.
Meta doesn't provide breakout data on WhatsApp's revenue, but it's estimated to be between $500 million and $1 billion, a minuscule portion of the nearly $117 billion in annual revenue that Meta brought in last year. However, with the growth of business messaging, WhatsApp could generate between $7 to $10 billion in revenues within the next five to six years.
1. Over half of the world's 5.3 billion internet users are on the messaging platform WhatsApp, owned by Meta.
2. WhatsApp is the world's largest social messaging app with almost as many users as Facebook.
3. Over 100 billion messages are exchanged on WhatsApp every day.
4. WhatsApp is used globally, in places like India, Indonesia, and Brazil.
5. WhatsApp's revenue is estimated to be between 500 million and one billion dollars, a minuscule portion of the nearly 117 billion in annual revenue that Meta brought in last year.
6. Unlike Instagram and Facebook, WhatsApp doesn't run ads, and nearly all of its revenue comes from business messaging, which it introduced in 2018.
7. WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by former Yahoo employees Brian Acton and Yonkum. The initial concept was for an app that would display statuses next to your contacts' names.
8. WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for 19 billion dollars in 2014.
9. WhatsApp charges medium to large companies for every conversation that they have with customers, with the fees varying by country and the type of conversation.
10. WhatsApp is also getting into payments, allowing users to link their bank account and send money through the chat interface.
11. WhatsApp is rolling out new features like channels where users can subscribe to get updates from individuals, businesses, or organizations.
12. WhatsApp is also experimenting with monetizing messaging for small businesses. Small businesses can simply download and use the free WhatsApp business app.
13. WhatsApp is also seen as a potential way for Meta to stabilize the company, as there is no other platform that has WhatsApp's global reach.
14. By 2027, it is expected that WhatsApp will have about 4.1 billion users, and it will be the platform where brands really start to invest, generating billions of dollars worth of spend.