Facebook announced Thursday (Jan. 26) that it is rolling out a small test in Australia and Thailand that enables businesses to place ads on the home screen of Facebook Messenger.
In a blog post, Facebook said that this gives businesses the opportunity to place an ad in the area of Messenger below recent conversations, similar to how Facebook notifies users when a friend is active on Messenger. Facebook noted that no one will see an ad in a conversation if they don’t click on the ad experience on the Messenger home screen or start a conversation with a brand. The feature is being tested with a group of people in Thailand and Australia in the coming weeks.
“Businesses have long been telling us that they are very excited about the potential of the Messenger platform to reach their customers and help them to drive sales, build brand awareness and increase customer satisfaction,” Facebook said in the blog post. “Our current offerings, like ads that take people to Messenger conversations from their Facebook News Feed and sponsored messages, have demonstrated that people are interested in hearing from and interacting with business and brands on Messenger. In fact, people are already regularly messaging businesses with over 1 billion messages sent between people and businesses on Messenger each month.”
Facebook noted that the people that are part of the two trials have complete control of Messenger and can choose to hide or report specific ads by using a dropdown menu in Messenger. Advertisers won’t be able to message users directly unless a person starts the conversation. “We hope to learn a lot from this test, but we will take our time before considering further expansion to ensure that we deliver the very best experience to both advertisers and the 1 billion people who use Messenger every month,” Facebook wrote.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More