The tab showcases automated bots, as well as facilitating conversations with brands ranging from Taco Bell to Chase Bank to the University of California. It can also be seen in the Discover tab, which launched in late June for all Messenger users in the U.S. A desire to connect the two has been part of the Messenger strategy since the Messenger Platform for bots debuted at F8 in April 2016. “We’ll start slow,” he said. “When the average user can be sure to see them we truly don’t know because we’re just going to be very data-driven and user feedback-driven on making that decision.”Īds on the home screen also brings Messenger closer to its goal of facilitating a connection between its 1.2 billion users and the 70 million businesses on Facebook. Average Messenger users elsewhere in the world could begin to see advertisements on their home screen by the end of the year, Chudnovsky said, though timing for the shift from beta to general availability will be based on how ads are received by users. The beta in Thailand and Australia sent ads to nearly all Messenger users. Sponsored messages can only be sent to users a company has already had a conversation with.Īds in the Home tab will follow an auction-based model and will feature the same sort of user-targeting capabilities found on Facebook or Instagram, Chudnovsky said.

Existing Messenger ads include sponsored messages and ads in Facebook News Feeds that redirect to Messenger conversations with a bot or human.

Messenger home