Meta has started to trial its premium subscriptions for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp users in the UK.
Under the new offering, paying subscribers would get access to features such as expanded artificial intelligence capabilities. According to one report, the tech giant is also planning to use Manus – an AI firm Meta recently acquired – in its plans.
The move is the latest experiment of paid services from Meta. In late 2025, the company introduced a pay or consent to ads model – similar to the pay or consent to cookies model that News UK and Daily Mail Group rolled out across some publications.
At the time, Meta said the move comes “in response to recent UK regulatory guidance” following a consultation period with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The update has seen two new subscriptions: a £2.99 per month for web browsers and a separate one for iOS and Android devices at £3.99 per month, which would give UK subscribers the choice to stop seeing ads on two of the biggest social media platforms in the world.
The experience for those who do not pay will remain the same as before, meaning they can use the platform for free with ads.
The tech giant wrote in a post on its website: “We continue to believe in an ad-supported internet, which ensures free access to personalised products and services for all.
“Personalised ads help people discover relevant, new products and services while allowing British businesses to reach the customers most likely to be interested in what they offer.”
But with a combined total of 71.7 million UK users across both Facebook and Meta the question remains: just how many will be tempted to opt in and subscribe? And what does this mean for marketers in gaming?
Affiliate Leaders’ Viktor Kayed sat down with Eugene Ravdin, head of PR at SEOBROTHERS to unpack this.
How popular are these platforms among operators for advertising?
There’s two parts to this. On the one hand, igaming ads are pretty popular, but on the other hand, the legislation is pretty strict in most geographies, especially if we’re talking about the UK.
You have to comply with a lot of requirements to be eligible to run, to advertise yourself. You have to have a proper licence, sometimes you have to be physically present in the jurisdiction you’re advertising in.
And while it is a natural place for local igaming brands to advertise on there [social media], I can say that you would encounter much more igaming ads on such platforms in the form of mobile games, in-app ads, etc.
So while operators have a clear vision of how to advertise themselves on Facebook and Instagram, you have to know what to show. When we come to the affiliate presence on Facebook or Instagram, what I see more is that affiliates try to approach the users not through the ads, but via organic content like self-owned channels, groups and communities.
This is where they create engaging content to nurture the communities, to attract the users, but they have to hold a delicate balance here.
There are over 70 million combined Facebook and Instagram users in the UK. How many do you think will opt-in to receive fewer ads?
Well, we can only speculate, but what we can also do is have a look at another example with YouTube. They introduced the same sort of subscription in 2018 for an ad-free experience. What we know is that the percentage of YouTube users in the UK that switched to that paid subscription service did not exceed 5%.
This makes me believe that the percentage for Facebook and Instagram will be around 10%, given that the price is lower. I would be surprised to see it go any higher. Also, a lot of people use ad block apps already. So yeah, I would say 10 % is the top limit.
What would happen to the operators and affiliates that buy media on these platforms when there’s less people to advertise to? Will they migrate somewhere else?
I don’t think they would move to other platforms and abandon Facebook and Instagram because even without those 10%, or even if it’s 20%, this is still a huge market. As a brand, as a company, and as an advertiser, you don’t want to lose that audience.
Maybe you would have to reconsider your ad budgets. You should definitely reconsider diversifying your advertising strategy… explore other platforms. However it should not be instead of, but in addition to.
So yeah, even with a lower reach and lower view count, igaming companies will still want to hang on to all the possibilities that the Meta universe is able to offer them in terms of advertising.
There will be a separation between subscriptions on mobile and desktop. Will that lead to any marketing innovations?
Brands will have to think twice about which vertical to advertise on. They’ll have to budget more effectively and really understand and analyse their customers better.
As for marketing innovations – the concept that currently exists – I think we’ll start producing more follow-up ads. If a user clicks on a mobile app, but doesn’t convert, they are later shown a more detailed version of the same ad but on desktop. And vice versa.
This is essentially cross-platform advertising. There will be a need for an even bigger distinction between formats and messaging in mobile and desktop ads. Advertisers will need a bigger understanding of user intent across mobile on desktop.
Meta has already rolled out the same feature across other European jurisdictions. What are your observations there?
What I can share is that while ad prices have not gone up drastically, there’s less traffic coming in from our ads on Meta. There’s also a lower conversion rate.
This has obviously taken away some of our core potential clients, and for us as a brand, this is of course a negative thing to experience.
So even if we’re paying the same money, even if we’re getting the same views and the same reach, the quality of traffic has diminished and the conversion rate has decreased. For that reason, affiliates will have to be super creative about their ads and campaigns.
A version of this article was first published in issue 4 of Affiliate Leaders, SBC Media’s print magazine for senior marketers and affiliates. SBC will launching an new site dedicated to covering the latest news, trends and insights for affiliates soon.