As if checking whether you were on mute or not wasn’t stressful enough, you now gotta keep your eye out for ad pop-ups on Zoom (ZOOM) calls.
Zoom currently operates four versions of its service with the Basic tier being the only free one. The company’s recent announcement means that meetings with two users on the Basic plan will include ad pop-ups. According to the trial that Zoom’s running, the ads only show up when meetings end. But it’s plausible that they could start cropping up elsewhere, which might not go down so well with users.
A large part of the platform’s appeal is its simplicity and in the words of Justin Timberlake’s Sean Parker "ads aren’t cool." Zoom might be testing the waters a bit with its plan to bring ad revenue to the forefront.
Why it matters
The move to monetize comes as Zoom’s been on an acquisition spree — it took on Five9 for $15b and AI startup Kites a few months ago. The cash for the acquire-and-grow strategy has got to come from somewhere! Zoom’s stock closed off yesterday at a 1.2% high.
