After initially suggesting that it would wait until Threads reached a billion users before integrating ads, Meta is now opening up Threads ads to all regions, providing another steady income stream for Zuckerberg’s ever-expanding behemoth.
Which Meta actually announced last April, when it announced that Threads ads would be expanded to “all eligible advertisers globally.”
But now, it’s expanding it to everyone, so it’s different. Or something.
Meta first started testing out Threads ads last January, when Threads had 300 million users, so it was nowhere near patient enough to wait for Threads to reach the billion count before pushing ahead. But as it continues to sink money into more AI data centers, Meta needs some way to pay for everything.
I mean, all of those H100 chips units aren’t going to pay for themselves. Well, not anytime soon at least.
As explained by Meta:
“Beginning next week, we are expanding ads on Threads to users in all markets globally […] For advertisers, ads on Threads are an easy way to extend the reach of their existing Meta campaigns, automatically adding Threads placements to Advantage+ and manual campaigns. The familiar image, video, and carousel ad formats appear natively in the Threads feed, helping brands reach more people in more places across Meta’s family of apps.”
To be clear, Meta launched an initial test of ads on Threads last January, then expanded the option to more markets in April. It added carousel and catalog ads in September, as well as an expanded image format, and has been gradually inviting more brands in more regions to incorporate Threads ads within their ad sets.
So again, you may have already had access to Threads ads before today, even though Meta is now officially announcing the full expansion.
Threads has become a valuable, viable channel for connection, which has replaced Twitter as a key source of news insights and quick takes for many users. Indeed, by some measures, Threads has already overtaken the platform formerly known as Twitter in active users, though Meta has not officially confirmed this as yet.
Meta officially claims that Threads has 150 million daily actives, and 400 million monthly active users, which trails X’s claimed 600 million MAU.
But the writing is on the wall, and it does look like Threads will supersede X in growth this year.
Which is an amazing achievement, especially considering that Twitter had struggled for years to cross the 400 million user threshold. Yes, Threads piggybacked off of Instagram, and used cross-promotion to expand. But you can’t argue with the numbers, and at this level, Threads will offer Meta a solid stream of additional ad income.
And if Threads does become the top real-time news platform, advertisers will certainly be keen to hook into its value in this respect.
So more money for Meta, and more opportunity for advertisers, as the company continues to expand its ad inventory.
Meta says that ads on Threads will be expanded to all users gradually, so if you’re not seeing them yet, you will soon.
