Threads investigates advertisements, but has 'no imminent timescale' for monetisation

Instagram says it doesn't test ads in threads and has no immediate plans to monetize them after multiple developers and reverse engineers uncovered references to ad products in the app's code, including the word "ads" itself, as well as references to sponsored items and ad configurations.

A JSON file that developers used, presumably for testing purposes, was also discovered in the public-facing Threads mobile app. "Alessandro Paluzzi, which the developer learned, can also force a post as a sponsorship message, and he shared a position on X. This entry shows how the brand" Sponsorship "appears next to the title of another theme. Tech veteran Chris Messina also discovered a JSON file called "bcn_single_image_ad" on Threads that referenced a sample ad unit in development.

While these findings suggest that Threads engineers appear to be exploring ad tech, it doesn't necessarily mean that Threads will be ditching ads anytime soon, as some have suspected. For example, Messina pointed to Threads' recently launched Creator Insights as a first step in rolling out ads, while Paluzzi simply said that Threads is "going to put ads in apps."

However, Meta downplayed the urgency of ad review. Asked about the developer's findings, Instagram spokesperson Alec Booker told TechCrunch: "We are not currently testing ads on Threads and do not have an immediate timeline for monetization." That echoes other statements from Met, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg's message to investors last quarter, in which he explained that "increasing [new products] and then expanding it not just to the consumer experience, but to a lot of other big businesses." that the ad has not yet run on Threads.

Earlier last year, Zuckerberg also told investors that the Threads team must first focus on maintaining and improving the basics before growing the community to the scale it believes is possible. It is only after this operation that it can start working on the thread monetization. The company is still being studied and continues to add features such as Instagram Cross Publicity, adding support for various projects and audience knowledge. Zuckerberg has previously said that Threads will likely reach 1 billion users within a few years, well above the current 200 million monthly active users.

It's no surprise, though, that Threads is working on the ad tech side of the service. It is a meta product after all. As Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said in April, Meta "definitely" plans to bring ads to Threads. "I understand why people are concerned, but at the end of the day we are a business and Threads needs to make enough money to pay for the people and servers needed to run the service and provide it to people for free." he noted in a Threads post.

The threads, which came to light a little over a year ago, reflect Matt's attempt to challenge Twitter, now called X, which has been redesigned and reimagined under Elon Musk's ownership. Threads has the potential to give advertisers and brands another place to market their products and services, as concerns about X's brand safety have sometimes led to ad boycotts and even X lawsuits against ad groups to avoid the platform.

Another advantage of Threads is that marketers are already familiar with Meta's advertising tools and capabilities, making it easier for them to adopt the new platform when Meta is ready.