Meta鈥檚 Q2 2025 earnings showed the company thriving despite softening engagement in mature markets. Revenue surged 22% YoY to $47.52 billion, largely driven by better ad pricing, AI-optimized performance tools, and growing monetization via WhatsApp. Although user growth was modest, Meta demonstrated strong pricing power鈥攅specially in North America and Europe鈥攁nd continues to see big potential in Asia-Pacific. Operating margins remained healthy at 43%, even with record AI investments. As Meta extracts more value per user and expands monetization across platforms, its performance proves that engagement isn鈥檛 the only growth lever鈥攊t鈥檚 how well each session gets monetized.
The news: Messaging ads are gaining traction as a key opportunity to reach customers at critical moments after Meta debuted ads in WhatsApp. In an exclusive conversation with 蘑菇AV, Grant Parker, president of omnichannel ad platform Innnovid, offered his take on the future of the messaging medium. Our take: The path forward for messaging ads relies on how well the format integrates with the user experience rather than interrupting it鈥攏ecessitating that advertisers invest in this opportunity while accounting for consumer attitudes.
The news: WhatsApp will begin showing ads for the first time since Meta鈥檚 2014 acquisition, starting with the Updates tab鈥檚 Status feature. Sponsored search placements and optional paid subscriptions will also be added to WhatsApp Channels. Ads won鈥檛 appear in encrypted chats or groups, and targeting will rely only on minimal metadata unless users opt in to link accounts.
Our take: Meta is threading a careful line鈥攎onetizing WhatsApp while keeping privacy promises intact. With over 3 billion global users and deep consumer trust, the platform鈥檚 subtle shift into ads and subscriptions could deliver big returns if Meta avoids sparking user backlash over commercialization.