SAN FRANCISCO – Zoom has become an almost daily part of most people’s lives since the pandemic began. Be it through professional or personal use, you’re either in Zoom meetings for most of your day or have to be on Zoom at least several times a week.
To add to that joy, Zoom recently announced they 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.”
In short, one of the last free communication services will now likely succumb to the influence of easily available advertising to utilise its massive user base for cash.
Zoom states that ads will only be rolled out on the browser page users see once they end their meeting. They add that only free basic users in certain countries will see these ads if they join meetings that are hosted by other free basic users, turning the basic free user pool of customers into fair game for advertisers.
Users will see a banner on Zoom’s website that provides a link that allows them to manage their cookies.
The company stated that they have updated their privacy statement to account for this new advertising program, and stressed that “There is one thing we want to make very clear: as noted in our privacy statement, we will not use meeting, webinar, or messaging content for any marketing, promotions, or third-party advertising purposes.”
Zoom said that the ad programme will be implemented to help allow free users to continue receiving free access. The COVID-19 pandemic earned the company a net profit of $671 million in the 2021 fiscal year – up from just $22 million for the year prior.
