Dive Brief:
- Facebook will begin allowing publishers to distribute content through its Messenger mobile app starting in April, according to three people familiar with the company's plans who spoke with Marketing Land.
- The report comes on the heels of news that Facebook is bringing marketing communications to Messenger.
- Facebook is expected to formally announce the move at its F8 developer conference in April. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment to Marketing Land.
Dive Insight:
With 800 monthly active users on Facebook Messenger, brands and marketers have been looking for ways to leverage the app to reach their target audiences. Several outlets recently reported that Facebook would open the app to advertisers, although an executive later clarified that the app would not be adding advertisements, but instead would enable marketers to communicate directly with users. Now, Marketing Land reports that Facebook will also open the app to publishers, showing the network's focus on messaging apps.
One publisher, German tabloid Bild, has already been experimenting with delivering news via Messenger, including information about the transfer window of the German soccer league and a separate Messenger news ticker for news about the German version of the reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!”
“Bild has to be where its readers are,” Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of Bild.de, said in a statement. “About 30 million people in Germany experience their daily digital routine on Facebook. That’s why we engage in Instant Articles and that’s why we, together with Facebook, look for solutions to deliver our peerless content faster and smarter to our readers.”
Facebook’s announcement in April is expected to include additional publisher partners. According to Marketing Land, there is no plan for publishers to earn revenue from distributing content on Messenger. However, given that Facebook is opening Messenger to communications between brands and people who previously engaged with them on the app, there may be a similar arrangement with publishers sending messages to their Messenger “subscribers.”