Truist: Meta Could Build $20B Subscription Business

Truist projects Meta Platforms could generate about $20 billion annually within five years by launching paid ‘Plus’ tiers for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp alongside premium AI services. The bank estimates the rollouts could add more than 360 million subscribers.

Truist analysts led by Youssef Squali reiterated a ‘buy’ rating on Meta and set an $840 price target, which the firm says implies more than 40% upside from current levels. The note described the outlook as ‘constructive’ as Meta expands beyond digital advertising. Meta shares are down about 10% year-to-date.

Truist compared Meta’s subscription push to Google’s YouTube and Google One businesses, which generated more than $35 billion last year. The bank estimates paid tiers across Meta’s apps could represent as much as 5% of company revenue within five years.

Truist broke the $20 billion projection into platform and product buckets: Instagram Plus about $10 billion, Meta AI roughly $6.5 billion, Facebook Plus nearly $2.8 billion and WhatsApp Plus about $2 billion. Social app subscription prices are modeled between $2.99 and $3.99 per month, while premium AI plans are modeled at $7.99 to $19.99.

The bank points to advances in Meta’s multimodal reasoning model, Muse Spark, as the technical foundation for higher-tier offerings. Recent launches identified by Truist, such as Meta OnePlus and Meta One Premium, are said to include advanced image and video generation, extended voice interactions and a ‘Thinking Mode’ for more complex agent workflows.

Truist expects subscriptions to be bundled with hardware over time, including augmented-reality glasses with added cloud storage or expanded recording features to support recurring fees. The bank also noted a 0.36% dividend yield as an additional component of total shareholder return.

Truist’s forecasts assume uptake of Plus tiers and premium AI and continued product differentiation. The firm projects the subscription and AI offerings would be high-margin and additive to Meta’s existing advertising revenue if adoption matches its assumptions.