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Mobile app WeAre8—which launches in the U.S. today, Adweek can exclusively share—aims to offer a social media alternative to hate speech and misinformation. Its ad model lets people opt in and get paid to watch ads.
That money can then be withdrawn or directed to charitable causes such as Feeding America, Save The Children and Water.org.
WeAre8 has been live in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand over the last 12 months. The platform is backed by publishers like The Independent, LADbible and Pink News, which publish content to the platform daily.
“The world of social that we live in today fuels hate, climate misinformation, and destroys our democracy,” said Sue Fennessy, founder and global CEO of WeAre8. “I thought, what if we can reimagine the digital ad model and then wrap around it a social media that is full of love, supports the planet and where people come together to make a positive impact every day.”
The app doesn’t allow tobacco, big oil and gambling firms to advertise on the platform.
More effective, lower-carbon ads
WeAre8 generates revenue via ads but shares 50% of it with people via micropayments, 5% with charity and climate change solutions, and 5% with its creator and publishers.
Because people can cherry-pick the content they like, the ads, in theory, are more effective for brands. Research by ad effectiveness tracking platform Lumen found that for every 1,000 impressions on an ad delivered on WeAre8, 14,819 seconds of eyeballs watched the ad. This is 10 times the amount of attention compared with its closest competitor TikTok, and 26 times more than an Instagram in-feed video, according to the company.
“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.
Heineken has run three campaigns on WeAre8 and saw a 24% average CTR on the app. Similarly, skincare brand Clarins saw a 30% uplift in intention to purchase via its campaigns.
“The impact you see is fully transparent as we know exactly where our media spend is going, how much is going to 8Citizens, how much is going to our chosen charity, and how much to carbon offsetting,” said Jimmy Hughes, social media lead, The Heineken company. “[This] makes our [money] spent with WeAre8 so much more impactful and meaningful.”
An earlier version incorrectly stated that PETA is a charitable partner.
