Meta doubles click-to-message ad revenue in India, targets $1 billion by 2023

Meta’s ad revenue in India: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has seen substantial growth in India, with doubled revenue from click-to-message ads in FY23 compared to the previous year. CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted this expansion during an analyst call on October 26, 2023. India is a key market for Meta, with more than 60 per cent of WhatsApp users in India engaging with business app accounts weekly. 

India boasts over 500 million WhatsApp users, and Meta is on track to achieve $1 billion in revenue in the country by the end of 2023. Additionally, India leads with 229.55 million Instagram users as of January 2023, surpassing the United States with 143.35 million users. In February 2023, Zuckerberg noted that Click-to-Message ads had reached a global revenue run rate of $10 billion.

Gross advertising revenue crossed Rs 18,300 crore

In the same month, Facebook India reported gross advertising revenues of Rs 18,308 crore in FY23, a 13 per cent YoY increase. Net profit surged by 19 per cent to Rs 352 crore, and total revenue increased by 20 per cent to Rs 2,776 crore. The company's ad inventory cost decreased by 63 per cent to Rs 5,666 crore compared to FY22.

Meta is exploring the possibility of launching an ad-free subscription plan in India by 2024, expanding its subscription offerings. The CEO sees business messaging as a pivotal part of the company's future, with over 600 million daily conversations occurring between people and businesses on its platforms.

During the earnings call, Zuckerberg provided an update on the growth of Meta's newly launched platform, 'Threads.' Within three months, Threads has attracted 100 million monthly active users worldwide. Zuckerberg envisions Threads becoming a billion-person public conversation app with a positive atmosphere over the next few years. Meta's core focus areas moving forward are AI and the metaverse.