6 Absolutely Lucrative Ways Internet.org Can Be Monetized

by Giovanni · February 24, 2015

Facebook, through the launch of internet.org plans to provide an affordable (“free”) internet access to 2/3rds of the world not yet connected. We’ve received a decent critique of internet.org, but the truth is that if it does become successful, Facebook could make a lot of money through any of the follow ways:

Increased Ad Revenue from Facebook.com

Facebook.com is one of the sites internet.org users can access for free. More users equal more ad revenue, and a greater percentage of the market share.

Increased Ad Revenue from other websites affiliated with Facebook

Facebook could also decide to make any site it owns (instagram.com, etc) free for internet.org users. Once again, more users equal to more ad revenue, and a greater market share.

Ads on internet.org app

Facebook has the right to display ads on the internet.org app. This is just a good way to make money.

Facebook could charge websites to be part of its free-sites platform

For now, the number of sites internet.org users can visit for free is less than 0.00001% of websites in the world. Facebook could decide to charge websites seeking to be part of it’s free-sites platform.

Facebook can turn internet.org to a search engine

Google—beware! Imagine if internet.org reaches the next 5 billion people not connected to the internet. Facebook could leverage that power. It could just make the home screen of the app a search engine. This is just a solid possibility—do the math!

Charge Google to continue to be listed on internet.org

For now, Google is listed among the sites users can access for free. In future, Facebook could charge Google to enjoy that opportunity. If Google disagrees, Facebook could threaten to substitute Google with Bing. Isn’t this a great possibility?

Charge sites currently enjoying its free service

Users of internet.org are able to visit a few sites for free. Facebook could charge those websites for its service. For example: Users of internet.org in India are currently able to access 38 websites for free. Hell—Facebook could charge those websites like $1000 per month! This price might sound outrageous, but the owners of those websites would be willing to pay if millions of extra visitors are directed to their websites every month!