Meta Announces Initial Test of Ads on Threads

It may not have reached a billion users just yet, but Meta’s decided to launch ads on Threads anyway, with initial testing to begin with selected users/brands in the U.S. and Japan.

As explained by Meta:

“Starting today, a small number of advertisers will test ads in Threads to help campaigns go further by reaching the growing Threads community. Businesses will be able to extend their existing Meta ad campaigns to Threads – without the need for bespoke creative or additional resourcing – by simply checking a box in Ads Manager. This can help businesses reach more people in more places across Meta’s family of apps and can improve advertiser outcomes.”

I mean, no one’s actually that surprised though, right?

Meta did initially suggest that it wouldn’t look to launch ads in Threads till the app reached a billion users, though initial Threads ad formats were spotted in testing in August last year. Some advertisers have also noticed that Threads has appeared as a placement option in Ads Manager, so it has seemed like Meta’s been moving in this direction for a little bit.

And with Threads now up to 300 million monthly active users, and gaining momentum, it seemed inevitable that the ads would be coming.

It might be a little sooner than some had expected/hoped, but ads were always coming, but we’re all pretty attuned to sponsored posts like this in social feeds by now either way. Right?

With that in mind, I’m not sure Meta needs to angle their messaging in such a hopefully enthusiastic way:

“People come to Meta for a personalized experience that helps them discover businesses and content they love – ads are an essential part of enabling this.”

Yeah, that sounds like something that a Meta sales chief would declare in a motivational push to the ad sales team, while Threads chief Adam Mosseri has also remarked that:

“We’ll closely monitoring this test before scaling it more broadly, with the goal of getting ads on Threads to a place where they are as interesting as organic content.”

Probably not going to happen, though I respect the endeavor, and the ethos with which you’re trying to sell this to users. I don’t think that anyone will buy it, but cool that you’re looking to lean into the concept that ads are actually good, and people will actually like them more this time.

Though again, we are all attuned to promotions, and we all know that they’re a part of the modern web experience. So I doubt there’ll be any significant backlash either way.

Meanwhile, for advertisers, ads on Threads will be “backed by Meta’s proven ads systems”, and as Meta notes, it’ll be easy to extend your existing Facebook and IG campaigns to Threads via a checkbox in your campaign set-up.

Meta’s also expanding its inventory filter to Threads ads as well, which will enable advertisers “to control the sensitivity level of the organic content that their ads appear next to.”

Finally, users will also be able to control the ads that they see in the app, if they choose, and in combination, these additional measures should enable greater control and audience relevance.

And with Threads on track to surpass X as the real-time social app of choice, Threads ads are going to appeal to many brands, and there will be high demand for Meta’s latest ad product. Which will ultimately bring in more money for the company, and with CEO Mark Zuckerberg also pledging $65 billion in spending on AI projects this year, it is going to need it.

That, in itself, could be the justification for Meta pulling the trigger on Threads ads earlier than expected.

Whatever the logic, it’s another ad consideration for your planning, and you can expect to see Meta moving to make Threads ads available in more regions pretty fast.