“Currently, the value from all that activity accrues to one place, the shareholders and owners of Meta, Alphabet, TikTok and X,” said Robert Weiss, CEO and Founder of Roar Social. “That value should also accrue to charities, to our communities. While our particular approach differs from that of WeAre8, we agree with their ethos and believe disruption is coming by new apps that embrace this approach.”
The app’s ability to decrease carbon emissions which rise from an increase in ineffective ad impressions, adds to its substantiality model. The study by Lumen found WeAre8 generated 31 times more attention per ad per gram of CO2 emitted than Instagram.
Mission to reach 80 million users
Currently, there are just under a million users on WeAre8. The app has ambitious goals to attract at least 1% of the global population, or 80 million users, to spend eight minutes a day on the platform within two years.
People using WeAre8, also known as citizens, are presented with two content feeds on the app: The first is 8Stage, which spotlights eight pieces of content daily from creators and publishers. People can see content from friends in the second feed. Both feeds are free from algorithms and ads.
Once a user opts in, a small button on the right lets them see ads ranging from 15 seconds to 2 minutes, followed by a series of questions about the experience. Every time someone completes watching a brand ad, they receive a share of the ad money as a micropayment in their 8wallet on the app.
“We make 40 cents in a dollar, and we still make a solid margin,” said Fennessy, who did not share more specifics.
WeAre8 has seen 90% of people opt in for ads. According to the company, 83% of people were able to recall an ad after seeing it on WeAre8. So far, content related to earth and animals performs well on the platform, according to Fennessy.
“The question I would have as a brand is whether or not people are actually watching the ads or simply hitting play and walking away from their phone,” said Jess Phillips, founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency The Social Standard. “If they launch interactive features, it would give it a bit more value for the brands who are paying to have their ads seen.”
The social app’s debut in the U.S. is being marketed via Warner Brothers Discovery, running TV ads across its channels, including CNN, Discovery and Animal Planet.
Brands like Nike, eBay, Budweiser, McDonald’s, Toyota, Dove, Audi and L’Oréal have been able to meet their target audience via the platform.