This photo illustration created in Washington, D.C., on July 6, 2023, shows the logo for Threads, an Instagram app, reflected on its opening page.
Stefani Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Meta has opened up its Threads microblogging service to all advertisers.
The social networking giant said Wednesday in a blog post that all “eligible advertisers globally” will be able to run ads on Threads, marking an expansion from the company’s initial testing with a few U.S. and Japanese companies, which began in January.
Businesses running Threads ads can also access Meta’s so-called inventory filter that determines whether their promotions appear near offensive content, Meta said in the blog post.
“These ads will be delivered in select markets at launch and will roll out to additional markets as we continue to test and learn,” Meta said in the post.
Meta’s testing of Threads ads represents the company’s initial foray into generating revenue for its Twitter-like service that debuted in July 2023.
In January, Meta Chief Financial Officer Susan Li said during a fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts that the company’s “introduction of ads on Threads will be gradual” and executives “don’t anticipate it being a meaningful driver of overall impression or revenue growth in 2025.”
Analysts have previously noted that Threads could potentially be a major source of revenue for Meta, akin to X, formerly known as Twitter, before Tesla chief Elon Musk bought the social messaging platform in 2022. Twitter’s annual sales were $5 billion in 2021.
Threads has more than 320 million monthly active users “and has been adding more than 1 million sign-ups per day,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts in January.
“I expect Threads to continue on its trajectory to become the leading discussion platform and eventually reach 1 billion people over the next several years,” Zuckerberg said at the time.
