Meta to introduce ads on Threads in early 2025, the Information reports

(Reuters) -Meta Platforms plans to introduce advertisements to its social media app Threads early next year, the Information reported on Wednesday, citing three people with direct knowledge of the plans.

Threads app was launched in July last year as a challenger to X, formerly Twitter, in a bid to win users from the de facto micro-blogging site during its chaotic takeover by billionaire Elon Musk.

The app hit 275 million monthly active users, Meta (NASDAQ:) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month, a sign of its rapid growth.

Threads is planning to allow a small number of advertisers create and publish ads on the app starting in January, according to the report.

A team inside Instagram’s advertising division is leading the initiative, the report said.

Meanwhile, Meta does not expect Threads to be “a meaningful driver of 2025 revenue,” CFO Susan Li said on a post-earnings call in October.

She also said that the company plans to introduce more features on the app.

“Since our priority is to build consumer value first and foremost, there are no ads or monetization features currently on Threads,” a Meta spokesperson said in an emailed response.

Threads could attract advertisers from X at a time when the platform has undergone a drastic change under Musk.

In August, Musk’s X sued a global advertising alliance and several major companies, including Mars and CVS Health (NYSE:), accusing them of unlawfully conspiring to boycott the site and causing it to lose revenue.

Ad revenue at X slumped for months after Musk bought the company in 2022. Some advertisers had been wary of ad spending under Musk amid questions and fears that their brands would appear next to harmful content that would have otherwise been removed under prior owners.