Meta Platforms Inc.’s WhatsApp has hit 100 million monthly active users in the US and is growing its daily audience by double digits, signs the messaging app is gaining traction in a market largely dominated by Apple Inc.’s iMessage and traditional texting.
Meta acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion, and while the app has amassed billions of users worldwide and become a staple in countries such as Brazil and India, its presence in the US has lagged behind. Meta has recently promoted WhatsApp as a bridge between “blue and green bubble” users in the US, referring to the different displays for messages on iPhone and Android phones. Meta recently ran a television commercial with the cast of ABC’s Modern Family, showing the family combining their mix of phones in a single group chat on WhatsApp.
More US users would improve Meta’s effort to build out WhatsApp’s business, which has been slower to materialize than some expected. The US market is typically the most lucrative for advertising, and Meta says click-to-message ads that send a user from their Facebook or Instagram feeds to a direct message conversation with a business are already a multibillion-dollar business.
Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced the new milestone on his WhatsApp channel Thursday. The company also said the total number of messages sent by US users is growing double digits compared with a year earlier.
Meta is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings on July 31 with analysts’ projecting a 20% sales increase. The shares have gained 30% so far this year.