Indonesia gives advertisers access to a vast and highly connected digital audience. The country’s population is projected to reach 287.2 million in 2026, while internet penetration has already reached 80.5%. The bigger challenge is finding users with a clear interest in what your brand offers, especially on platforms where attention is spread across broad, algorithm-driven feeds.
Telegram approaches that challenge differently. Its users gather in focused communities built around topics such as crypto, fintech, education, technology, gaming, and more. This allows brands to reach audiences whose interests are reflected in the channels they follow and the bots they actively engage with.
This article explores why Telegram advertising is gaining attention in Indonesia, what sets its advertising model apart, which formats are available, and which types of businesses are best positioned to benefit.
In Indonesia, digital ad spending is projected to grow from $3.41 billion in 2026 to $4.51 billion by 2031, at an annual growth rate of 5.7%.
Indonesia Digital Advertising Market
As digital advertising in Indonesia grows, competition for consumer attention is intensifying. Brands therefore are expanding their media mix beyond the most established platforms and looking for channels that offer access to engaged audiences in environments where users actively spend time.
Among these emerging channels, Telegram is especially relevant to Indonesia’s increasingly mobile-first digital audience. Smartphone ownership is forecast to rise from 86% of the population in 2025 to 91.3% by 2028, while daily app usage has already surpassed five hours. What's more, Indonesia has over 40 million Telegram users, giving brands access to a sizable growing audience that organizes itself around finance, technology, shopping, education, entertainment, professional interests, and local communities.
Another advantage of Telegram advertising in Indonesia is relatively low ad saturation compared with mature social feeds. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Google are already crowded with brands competing for users’ attention in Indonesia, while many Telegram niches still have fewer advertisers. This gives brands more room to stand out and reach focused audiences through channels built around specific interests.
The opportunity is even more valuable for businesses whose customers need more than a single click before making a decision. Telegram channels, groups, bots, and other in-app experiences can support ongoing communication after the initial acquisition. E-commerce brands can distribute product launches and promotions, education companies can nurture prospective students, and fintech or digital-product businesses can keep users engaged around updates, content, and offers.
Compared with Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, Telegram marketing reaches users through communities and content they actively choose to follow. Its native advertising approach, direct access to engaged audiences, and privacy-focused model give brands additional factors to consider when evaluating Telegram alongside other advertising platforms.
Telegram attracts users with specific interests and clear reasons for joining particular channels. People follow communities focused on industries, hobbies, professional topics, news, and specialized subjects. Nearly one-third of Telegram users regularly check from 6 to 10 channels, while Telegram channels generate more than 1 trillion views every month. For brands, this creates an opportunity to reach engaged Telegram users in a context that already aligns with their preferences, which makes advertising feel more relevant and increases the potential for meaningful engagement.
Telegram channel statistics. Source: Telegram Marketing Statistics and Trends: The 2025–2026 Report
Telegram sponsored messages appear within channels and bots where users are already consuming content they chose to follow. In channels, for example, only one sponsored message appears at the bottom of the feed, which makes the experience less cluttered than platforms with multiple ad placements. Because these native Telegram ads appear alongside related content, brands can reach users without disrupting the flow. This creates a more natural placement that can make promotions easier to notice and engage with.
When paid traffic turns into Telegram channel subscribers, the value of the campaign can continue well beyond the initial click. Brands can reconnect with that audience through product updates, personalized recommendations, educational content, polls, and community discussions without paying for every future interaction. Even a 5% increase in customer retention can drive profit growth of 25% or more, which makes Telegram community marketing particularly useful for businesses focused on building long-term customer relationships.
What drives customer loyalty
Rising costs on established platforms are pushing marketers to look for additional acquisition channels. To illustrate, In 2025, Google Ads CPCs increased in 87% of industries. Telegram advertising costs remain competitive because many niches still have lower advertiser density, especially compared with Google, Meta, and TikTok. For brands, cost-effective Telegram Ads translate into more affordable reach, more room to test campaigns, and better control over acquisition costs.
Privacy matters in Indonesia, where 44% of consumers say they are very concerned about the security and protection of their personal data. Telegram supports a more privacy-focused advertising environment by keeping private chats and contact lists out of ad targeting. Instead, it uses signals such as channel topics, language, followed channels, and supported location data to improve ad relevance. This creates a way to reach interested audiences without accessing private conversations, helping build trust as users discover content, join communities, and engage with businesses.
Telegram Ads gives brands targeting audiences in Indonesia several ways to reach users across the Telegram ecosystem. Campaigns can appear in private and public channels with more than 1,000 subscribers, inside bots with over 1,000 monthly active users, and in Telegram search results. Search placements are particularly useful for reaching people who are already looking for specific topics, communities, products, or services. The Telegram ad platform operates on a CPM pricing model, which means advertisers pay for every 1,000 impressions their ads receive.
Within eligible channels, sponsored messages are shown at the bottom of the feed after users have viewed recent channel content. The core format uses concise text of up to 160 characters, making the message quick to scan on mobile. Advertisers can also strengthen their Telegram ad creatives with images, gifs, short videos, standard emojis, or custom emojis to make the ad more noticeable and communicate the offer more clearly.
Official Telegram Ads in channels
Each ad also includes a call-to-action button that moves users toward the next step. Depending on the campaign setup, the destination can be a Telegram channel, an individual post, a business profile, a bot, a mini app, or an external website. This flexibility allows brands to align Telegram Ads with different objectives, from community growth and lead generation to website traffic, sales, conversions, and ongoing engagement.
Telegram influencer marketing helps brands reach Indonesian audiences through community leaders they already trust. Many influencers build focused communities within Telegram channels covering finance, technology, education, e-commerce, and lifestyle. Brands can work directly with channel owners to publish promotional posts that match the tone and interests of the community. These native channel ads can feel more authentic because they come from KOLs with established relationships with their audiences. In Indonesia, over 69% of consumers who follow at least one digital influencer say they have bought a product after seeing it endorsed by an influencer. Choosing targeted channels with a strong audience fit can therefore support product discovery, engagement, and purchase consideration. Among Telegram’s advertising formats, influencer partnerships are especially useful when credibility and niche audience relevance matter as much as reach.
Telegram mini apps are lightweight web applications that run inside Telegram and can support e-commerce, gaming, education, finance, ticketing, loyalty programs, bookings, customer support, and productivity tools. Unlike traditional bots, mini apps use technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create richer interfaces that feel closer to a website or mobile app. More than 500 million people interact with mini apps each month, giving brands access to a large audience without requiring users to leave Telegram.
Telegram mini app ads can appear at natural points within the user experience and support objectives such as awareness, traffic, engagement, and conversions. Targeting includes region, language, device type, Telegram Premium status, and selected wallet-related signals. Available in-app advertising formats include static and GIF banners, video ads, and task-based interactive ads. An embedded banner fits within the mini app interface, while interstitial placements occupy more of the screen at natural transition points. Task-based formats can reward users for actions such as subscribing to a channel or completing an in-app activity, while short-form video can support product demonstrations, launches, and brand awareness.
Telegram mini app ads
For businesses, Telegram advertising can support goals across brand awareness, customer acquisition, and engagement. In Indonesia, it is particularly well suited to industries where users rely on Telegram for updates, recommendations, education, and community interaction.
Telegram has become a major hub for crypto-focused communities, where users follow market updates in channels, discuss projects, and trade through bots and mini apps. That concentration of activity makes the platform especially relevant for fintech and crypto advertisers. Nearly one in three Telegram users has some experience with cryptocurrencies, and 16% of that group are seasoned traders. For exchanges, wallets, trading tools, Web3 projects, and financial education products, Telegram Ads can help reach users in relevant communities while supporting objectives such as lead generation, app installs, community growth, and product adoption
E-commerce brands and online stores can use Telegram to promote product launches, limited offers, marketplace deals, and repeat-purchase campaigns. Brands can also convert ad traffic into channel subscribers, giving them a direct way to share future promotions and new products. This makes Telegram useful for retailers that want to combine customer acquisition with retention rather than pay for every interaction separately.
Courses, professional training, memberships, and other digital products also fit Telegram's community-driven structure. Education businesses can use ads to attract users into channels where they share lessons, webinars, course updates, or enrollment offers. The ongoing communication layer is especially useful for products that require multiple touchpoints before purchase.
The potential of Telegram Ads for business growth extends well beyond these industries. Any company with a clearly defined audience, a relevant offer, and a measurable campaign goal can benefit from the platform, whether the objective is traffic, leads, sales, app installs, or community growth. Results depend on how well the targeting, offer, creative, and destination fit the audience.
As a Telegram Infrastructure Partner, Magnetto.com helps brands turn Telegram into a scalable acquisition and growth channel. Through deep platform expertise, exclusive access to euro-billed Business Telegram Ads accounts, and proprietary AdTech, our team supports advertisers with the infrastructure and campaign capabilities needed to reach the right audiences and scale with greater control. Contact our team to explore how Telegram advertising can fit into your growth strategy.
Sofia Mozolkova is the Head of Marketing at Magnetto.com. With over 7 years of experience in digital marketing, she shares her expertise to help brands effectively leverage advertising channels, build scalable growth strategies, and turn traffic into long-term customers.
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