Hardly do you get to see someone in the present era of internet and technology who doesn’t know about Whatsapp? That’s how popular the application that is available on all major platforms is. But if you think about it, Whatsapp doesn’t have any advertisements shown while you are using the application, so have you ever wondered how exactly does Whatsapp make money? It was purchased by Facebook a year back for 19 billion dollars. So what is it that makes it worth such a gigantic sum of money? The below-mentioned information is going to solve the enigma for you.
How WhatsApp Makes Money?
Launched by Brian Acton and Jan Koum back in 2009, the smart phone application was meant as an alternative to the costly SMS services which were being provided by carriers all around the world. With the utilization of the application, user can send a text message, along with a picture, audio, video etc. to one of his contacts who is using WhatsApp for absolutely no charges. Since the application is available on Android, iOS, windows phone, blackberry and even the NOKIA phones, it is highly unlikely that one of your contacts wouldn’t be able to make use of Whatsapp in the first place.
Back in 2014, the application was purchased by Facebook for $19 billion. As per the reports of Facebook, in the subsequent nine months, Whatsapp generated overall revenue of around $1.2 million. But how exactly did Whatsapp managed to produce such a massive amount of revenue in a comparatively short period? What is the source of income for Whatsapp? Let’s dive into the mystery and look for the answer.
There is no argument over the fact that Whatsapp is not making any money out of advertisements since there are none which are displayed during the use of the application. However, it doesn’t imply that there is no source of income for Whatsapp in the first place. As per speculation, it is highly likely that Whatsapp is probably making money via data selling. Whatsapp may have been selling your personal information to third parties to study the user behaviour and personal information which may be used to target the audience in a peculiar fashion. In other words, while it is claimed that your data is secure with Whatsapp and the app itself only uses it for targeting the audience, it can indeed not be taken for granted that since it may as well be a mode of making money for Whatsapp in the first place.
The rapid pace at which the total number of users is increasing can be justified by the fact that as soon as a person downloads the application, he is bound to advocate and let his friends and family know about it. This is what increases the total number of downloads exponentially. Last but not the least, Facebook has already announced that the current system in place for revenue generation in Whatsapp may not be stable in the years to come and the idea of putting advertisements may as well be implemented at a later stage.
Read more : How to run dual Whatsapp in android
The information as mentioned above is more than capable of justifying why Facebook purchased the application for a vast sum of $19 billion. Since the app has a comparatively small, but persistent stream of stream of revenue with the remarkable potential of growth, it won’t be wrong to state that the Facebook’s venture of purchasing Whatsapp is bound to be beneficial for it in some years to come. If you happen to have a different opinion about the modes of making money for Whatsapp, you are more than welcome to share your ideas.
Leave a Reply