How Telegram Ads Work in 2025

Telegram is now the third most popular messenger app worldwide. Beyond chatting with friends and family, it’s also a hub for content discovery — approximately half of its users check 6 to 15 different channels regularly, according to TGStat. And that’s where you can reach a highly engaged audience, boost brand awareness, and drive targeted traffic to your business.

In this guide, you’ll learn how Telegram Ads work, what ad formats and targeting options are available on the platform, and how to set up your account and launch an effective advertising campaign. 

• What Are Telegram Ads?
• Telegram Ad Formats
• How the Auction Works
• Targeting Options
  
• Ad Account Setup
• Creative Strategy
• Moderation & Compliance
• Measuring Performance
• Optimization Tactics
  
• Limitations of the Platform
• Future of Telegram Ads
• Wrapping Up
  

What Are Telegram Ads?

Telegram’s 1 billion users drive more than 1 trillion monthly views in public broadcast channels. No algorithm hides content on the platform, so every message, including sponsored ones, reaches its audience.

Telegram Ads are text-based banners that appear in three placements:

• Public and private channels with over 1,000 subscribers
• Telegram bots with more than 1,000 monthly active users
• Telegram Search results

Telegram ad examples

These sponsored messages integrate naturally into user experience: they blend with the flow of updates the audience already expects and follow the same language, formatting, and tone standards as organic content. A clickable button in the banner redirects users to a Telegram channel, specific post, business profile, bot, or mini app.

Telegram Ad Formats

A Telegram ad can contain up to 160 characters (including spaces) and feature standard or custom emojis, photos, and videos. The editorial guidelines for advertising restrict the following:

• Use of profanity or vulgar language
• Vague, meaningless, or repetitive content
• Excessive capitalization
• Overuse of symbols
• Numbered lists, line breaks, or bullet points
• Intrusive or excessive use of emojis or emoticons

Telegram ad account

How the Auction Works

Advertising on Telegram follows an auction-based bidding model: you compete with others for placements by setting the price you are willing to pay per thousand impressions (CPM). In other words, you are charged for every 1,000 times your ad is shown to users, regardless of whether they click on it. The starting rate is about 0.10 TON per CPM (~$0.34). You can buy TON via Fragment.

Targeting Options

Telegram advertising allows you to target specific public and private channels — including those run by competitors — along with bots and keywords that trigger promotions in global search results. We also suggest advertising in your own channel. That way, you can secure the spot before other brands grab it and keep your content front and center when you’re running time-sensitive promotions or launching new features.

Since Telegram prioritizes user privacy, the platform does not currently offer native targeting by language, geographic location, or demographic details. However, with the right approach, you can still connect with your ideal audience and drive high conversion rates.

Ad Account Setup

Log in to start advertising

2. Now it’s time to create your ad campaign. Enter your ad text, add the URL you want to promote, and set your price per 1,000 impressions. Remember to include invite links for your channel and UTM parameters for bot traffic. This will help you understand which placements attract the most relevant audience and lead to the highest conversion rates.

For targeting:

• To promote your brand in Search, include specific search queries. 
• For bots or channels, provide links to the placements. Note that photo and video creatives are only supported for channel advertising.

Create your ad

How to find channels and bots with an audience that matches your advertising goals? You can use TGStat to search for channels by country, language, topic, or keyword, and review detailed statistics such as subscriber growth, post reach, engagement, view analysis, and more. Another option is the “Similar channels” feature found in a channel’s description, which helps you discover related audiences. Once you’ve chosen your channels, run tests to determine which deliver the best results.

To discover bots, use tApps Сenter and FindMini.app.

tApps Сenter

Before launching the campaign, make sure your channel’s title, description, and profile picture are finalized — once the advertising is live, certain changes can trigger re-moderation. Find out how to prevent other issues in our article “8 Common Mistakes to Avoid While Running Telegram Ads”.  

Creative Strategy

Writing Effective Ad Copy

Your ad copy needs to capture users' attention fast. Start with a clear hook that makes people stop scrolling. Follow it with a strong value proposition — tell them exactly what they’ll get or why it matters. Avoid exaggerated promises, clickbait language, or spammy phrases, as these can get your ad rejected during moderation. 

Most importantly, match the tone of your ad to the audience of the channel you’re targeting. For example, casual and conversational for lifestyle channels, and more professional for business or tech audiences.

Here are a few creative examples we crafted for Altery’s ad campaign:

Examples of creatives

Destination Optimization

Make sure the channel or bot you direct the audience to is active, visually appealing, and offers immediate value. Keep the messaging consistent: if your ad promises insider tips, your destination should deliver exactly that. For example, a community filled with high-value, well-produced posts builds trust, while a feed packed with low-effort giveaway content can quickly turn people away.

Moderation & Compliance

Common reasons promotional content gets rejected include grammar errors, use of imperatives (“Click now”) and superlatives (“The best bot”), formatting violations, excessive emojis that make an ad look spammy, and others. 

If your ad is rejected, review the moderation feedback carefully. Update the text to meet the platform’s requirements, remove or adjust prohibited elements, and make your offer clear and accurate. 

With Magnetto, your campaign can go live instantly, with full support for creative development, precise audience targeting, and ongoing optimization.

Measuring Performance

Telegram’s advertising platform provides core performance data to help you evaluate campaign results and make informed adjustments.

• Views — the number of times your ad is shown.
• Clicks — how many people interacted with your ad.
• Actions — specific interactions such as starting a bot.
• CTR — the percentage of viewers who clicked on your ad, calculated as clicks divided by views.
• CPC — the average amount spent for each click your ad receives.
• CPA — the cost to acquire a desired action, such as a subscription, bot start, or lead.

Track these metrics regularly and compare them across different creatives, placements, and targeting options to determine what resonates best with your audience and drives the highest ROI.

Optimization Tactics

Here are a few proven strategies to help you fine-tune your campaigns, boost engagement, and increase conversion rates:

Start Broad, Then Refine Targeting

Begin your campaign with a wider range of channels, bots, or search keywords to gather enough performance data. Once you identify which placements deliver the highest audience engagement and best cost efficiency, shift your budget toward those top performers.

A/B Test Ad Copy and Placements

Run different versions of your ad copy, placements, and even targeting types (e.g., bots vs. channels) to see what resonates most with your audience. 

Don’t limit yourself to channels and bots strictly tied to your niche. For instance, if you’re promoting a fintech tool, explore channels beyond just banking and finance. Test IT and technology, freelancing and remote work, or crypto and blockchain communities — there’s a strong chance their audience will engage with your offer.

Adjust CPM Bids Strategically

Start your Telegram ad campaign with the minimum bid (0.10 TON) to test your ad performance. 

No impressions within 30 minutes? Your bid may be below the channel’s current CPM rate. In that case, increase it gradually — no more than 20% at a time — and wait about 30 minutes after each adjustment to see how it affects impressions. This way, you can find a competitive bid without overspending.

Getting impressions but not seeing the expected results? Try lowering the CPM. You can reduce it by up to 20%, or adjust based on the performance gap. For instance, if your current cost per click is $2 and your target is $1, lowering the bid by 40–50% can help you reach your efficiency goals.

Test Micro and Niche Channels for Engagement Boosts

While big channels deliver broad reach, smaller communities can bring a highly engaged audience. These users tend to interact more with posts, click through at higher rates, and convert more consistently. On top of that, niche placements are typically more budget-friendly and face less competition.

Disable a Channel at the Right Moment

If your ad has reached 1,000 views but received zero clicks, shows an unusually high CTR, or results in no conversion, it’s time to rethink that channel and invest in placements that perform better.

Limitations of the Platform

Advertising on Telegram works differently than on other platforms, and knowing the challenges ahead will help you get better results.

• Limited targeting options. Telegram doesn’t yet offer precise geo, demographic, or behaviour targeting. Success of your campaign depends on how closely the channels, bots, or keywords you target match the interests and needs of your audience.
• Uneven adoption by region. The app is particularly popular in Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, and parts of Latin America. 

Telegram users by country

• A strong content feed is essential. A feed with only a couple of outdated posts won’t convert well, no matter how good your ad copy is. Take the time to fill your channel with fresh, valuable content before launching your campaign.
• Risk of low-quality placements. Some channels inflate subscriber numbers or have low engagement rates, which means the actual audience you reach may be far smaller or less engaged than it appears. Use TGStat to check subscriber growth, engagement levels, and post reach trends. Watch out for sudden, unexplained spikes in followers — these often signal fake or purchased accounts.
• Premium subscribers don’t see sponsored content. Users with a Telegram Premium subscription are not shown promotions in channels, bots, and search results, though they may still encounter advertising inside Telegram mini apps.

Even with certain constraints, Telegram still stands out among mainstream ad platforms. It’s a place where you get direct access to highly engaged niche communities that are difficult to connect with elsewhere. Take a look at the post reach in some cryptocurrency channels:

Rating of Telegram channels (TGStat)

Future of Telegram Ads

The advertising platform is growing steadily. Multimedia formats are now available for channels, which allows advertisers to showcase richer visuals that attract more attention than plain text. Looking ahead, we can expect engaging advertising options inside bots as well, that will open the door to more interactive and dynamic ad experiences.

From a competitive standpoint, Telegram remains less saturated than platforms like Meta, Google, or TikTok: CPM rates are often lower and quality placements are easier to secure. However, more brands are starting to recognize the potential of the platform to reach unique audiences. Now is the perfect time to test this channel and position yourself as a leader in your niche before competition ramps up and costs rise.

Wrapping Up

In the next few years, Telegram Ads will develop into a more advanced and competitive platform — but right now, it’s still a largely untapped channel. To make the most of your advertising campaign, approach it as a continuous learning process. Test different creatives and placements, watch how your audience responds, and refine your strategies to steadily increase ROI.