Meta hasn’t opened Threads to ads yet, but it might not be able to resist for long. Advertisers are eager to spend serious money there and are already planning for the eventuality, with a good number expecting the opportunity to arrive later this year.
The Twitter clone has everything ad buyers look for in a partner: a large audience, public interest, and potential access to Meta’s industry-leading advertising tools. And as soon as Mark Zuckerberg welcomes them, they won’t waste a minute.
“We’re going to start immediately for our clients, as soon as advertisements are available on Threads,” said Ahmet Yavuz, CEO of digital marketing firm ASY Digital. “Everything is ready from our side.”
For Yavuz and his peers, there’s serious appeal in having another app inside Meta’s ad manager. And that could be trouble for Twitter, which saw advertisers flee following Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform last year, and has since strained to woo them back. Meta’s ad platform centralizes buying across its properties—including Instagram and Facebook—and is extremely effective, using advanced targeting and optimization to deliver better performance than other digital media outlets, with the possible exception of Google. Once Meta adds a check box to extend ads to Threads, ad buyers will check it.
Meta is “the No. 1 platform for pretty much all the brands we work for,” said Carly London, the founder of growth marketing agency Sometimes Curly. “If we’re able to use the power of that advertising to expand to a Twitterlike audience, that can be huge.”
Among nearly all the marketers we spoke with, the prevailing sentiment was overwhelming trust in Meta’s ad platform. “I’d for sure start to test immediately because it’s Meta. Generally trust them in every placement they have,” said David Herrmann, CEO of ad agency Herrmann Digital.
“They’re always making updates to improve targeting and placements and ad optimization,” said Carl Bivona, senior director of social media at Ignite Visibility.
“They already have better ad technology from a marketer’s perspective than Twitter. Facebook’s ads, technology, and interfaces are much better than Twitter’s,” said Trevor Dudeck, CEO of ad agency Lemonade.
“We’ll be ready to jump in as soon as Meta rolls out advertising on Threads,” said Josh Keller, CEO of Union Square Media. “We are communicating with them currently about the launch.”
The enthusiasm from advertisers has little to do with content moderation or the culture war. None of the marketers we spoke with brought up Musk’s or Zuckerberg’s politics, just as few marketers slowed their spending amid Meta’s various scandals over the past decade. Marketers want performance, and Meta delivers.
“My No. 1 goal is what will make the company money,” said London. “I don’t get involved in any other kind of issues, or Twitter vs. this or vs. that. I don’t really care.”
For Meta, there’s risk that Threads cannibalizes Instagram’s revenue over Twitter’s. Meta, after all, built Threads on top of Instagram’s network, and advertisers want more than just a novel way to reach the same people. “If it’s just the same thing as Instagram, that’s not going to be as enticing,” said one executive at a major digital advertising agency. “Threads likely needs to pull in some growth from outside the Instagram community to keep growing.”
So Meta will take it slow, as long as it’s able. But while Zuckerberg said last week he’ll wait until Threads is on track to 1 billion users before thinking about monetization, it did hit 100 million in a week. With Wall Street shareholders to answer to, Meta may flip the switch on Threads ads quicker than many imagine. Advertisers are already speaking hopefully about a possible introduction of ads to Threads sometime later this year. “I’ve heard rumblings that this may be starting sometime in Q4, before the holidays,” said Herrmann. Others expressed similar hopes.
When Zuckerberg inevitably adds the Threads check box to Meta’s ad platform, it’ll be ominous for Twitter’s flailing ad business. At the very least, it will make it more difficult to grow. “I think Twitter is going to be hurting,” said London. “Why would I run on Twitter if I’m getting worse performance and reaching the same audience?”
