To keep its service free, Zoom will experiment with displaying ads after video calls.
On Monday, the company announced that it’s rolling out a “pilot advertising program” for non-paying Basic users in certain countries. For now, it seems the ads will only appear for Zoom calls viewed on a web browser.
“For this initial program, ads will be rolled out only on the browser page users see once they end their meeting,” the company says. “Only free Basic users in certain countries will see these ads if they join meetings that are hosted by other free Basic users.”
Zoom says the ads will “enable us to support investment and continue providing free Basic users with access to our robust platform.” Its growth exploded last year during the pandemic, and the video-conferencing service continues to be in demand to this day.
“With this in mind, today we are excited to roll out a pilot advertising program that we expect will enable us to support investment and continue providing free Basic users with access to our robust platform,” the company says.
However, Zoom stresses it won’t be using data from user video calls for ad-targeting purposes. “As noted in our Privacy Statement, we will not use meeting, webinar, or messaging content (specifically, audio, video, files, and messages) for any marketing, promotions, or third-party advertising purposes,” the company says.
Instead, the ads will rely on browser-based cookies to serve up relevant marketing to users. The banner ads on Zoom’s website will also feature a link, enabling users to access the cookie management tool.
Zoom didn’t provide a list of countries where the ads will appear. But the program is poised to pave the way for a larger expansion in the future. We’ve reached out to Zoom for more information, and we’ll update the story if we hear back.
