(Bloomberg) — Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp has reached 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. and is growing its daily audience by double digits, signs the messaging app is gaining traction in a market largely dominated by Apple Inc. iMessage and traditional texting.
Bloomberg’s Most Read
Meta acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion, and while the app has amassed billions of users around the world and become a staple in countries like Brazil and India, its presence in the U.S. has lagged behind. Meta recently promoted WhatsApp as a bridge between “blue and green bubble” users in the US, referring to the different message views on iPhone and Android phones. Meta recently ran a television commercial featuring the cast of ABC’s Modern Family, showing the family combining their phone mix into a single WhatsApp group chat.
More users in the US would improve Meta’s effort to develop WhatsApp’s business, which has been slower to materialize than some had hoped. The US market is typically the most lucrative for advertising, and Meta says click-to-message ads that send a user from their Facebook or Instagram feed to a direct message conversation with a company are already a multibillion-dollar business.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new milestone on his WhatsApp channel on Thursday. The company also said that the total number of messages sent by US users is growing by double digits compared to the previous year.
Meta is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings on July 31, with analysts projecting a 20% sales increase. Shares have gained 30% so far this year.
Bloomberg Businessweek Most Read
©2024 Bloomberg LP
