Threads could soon be getting ads on its platform, with a report suggesting this could be as early as January of 2025.
According to a report from The Information, parent company Meta is aiming to bring ads to its latest app early next year with a slow rollout.
It is reported there will be “a small number” of advertisers in January, but it’s unclear how quickly this will expand. The publisher cites three people with direct knowledge of the plans and a team inside Instagram’s advertising division is believed to be leading the initiative.
The app has seen rapid growth since it was launched in July of last year, offering a competitor to Elon Musk’s X. It was built by the Instagram team and allows users to write posts and share photos and videos to their followers.
In October Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Threads had hit 275 million monthly active users. Currently, there are no ads on the platform which isn’t the same as Meta’s other social media networks.
Threads could entice advertisers away from X if roll-out ads
Despite the high user count, the CFO Susan Li said on a post-earnings call in October that Meta doesn’t expect Threads to be “a meaningful driver of 2025 revenue.” She shared how more features are planned for the app.
Reuters is reporting that a Meta spokesperson said in an emailed response: “Since our priority is to build consumer value first and foremost, there are no ads or monetization features currently on Threads.”
If the reports are true, the platform could attract advertisers from its competitor X. Last year, some big players like Apple and Disney started pulling spending from Musk’s platform over antisemitism claims.
Recent analysis from marketing researchers WARC claims that $5.9 billion has been lost in ad revenue since the Musk takeover. In 2022, $4.5 billion was generated and this then dropped to $2.2 billion last year. This year, the estimated figure is just $2 billion.
Featured Image: Credit to Meta