Meta is getting into the subscription business.
In the coming weeks, UK users of Facebook and Instagram will receive a notification giving them the option to pay a monthly subscription fee in return for a “no ads option”.
The subscription will cost £2.99 per month on desktop or £3.99 per month on iOS and Android.
Meta attributed the higher pricing on iOS and Android to the fees that Apple and Google charge through their purchasing policies.
The subscription will apply to all Facebook and Instagram accounts that a given user has added to their Meta Accounts Center. However, an additional fee of £2 per month on the web or £3 per month on iOS and Android will automatically apply for each additional account listed.
While subscribers would no longer see ads from Meta, this would not apply to organic content. Creators and official accounts posting sponsored or branded content will be unaffected.
In other words, the user experience wouldn’t be totally free from advertising.
According to a May report by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, one in four posts on Instagram are ads.
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The announcement is a major step change for a business that relies predominantly on ad revenue. In Q2 alone, Meta earned £47.5bn in total revenue, up 22% year on year.
Depending on the uptake of the ad-free subscription option, advertisers could see their potential paid reach on Facebook and Instagram decline.
Meta claims that its adtech was “linked” to £65bn in economic activity and 357,000 UK jobs last year — although it’s not clear how these figures have been compiled or whether they have been independently audited.
A spokesperson for Meta said: “We still believe in an ad-supported internet but subscriptions, as an alternative to seeing personalised advertising, is a well-established and economically viable business model spanning many industries, including media.
“The experience for those who choose to use our services for free will not change. They will continue to see ads on our platforms and will still be able to control their ads experience.”
Meta’s move is in response to recent UK regulatory guidance provided by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which Meta said it has “extensively” engaged with.
The spokesperson called the ICO’s approach “constructive”.
They contrasted the UK’s “more pro-growth and pro-innovation regulatory environment” with that of the EU, which Meta argued is “overreach[ing]” by requiring the company to “provide a less personalised ads experience” in order to protect user data privacy and safety.
The spokesperson continued: “It will give people in the UK a clear choice about whether their data is used for personalised advertising, while preserving the free access and value that the ads-supported internet creates for people, businesses and platforms.”
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