Advertising on Telegram – does it make sense for affiliates to get involved?

Today, Telegram is more than a messenger. It’s a complete ecosystem with millions of users and many niche channels. Some people invest in social networks with strict rules and many bans. Others are finding ways to earn money on Telegram. They use official Telegram Ads and advertising exchanges. 

Telegram has become one of the most effective channels for affiliates: the communication is direct, the audience is responsive, and feedback comes instantly. It allows quick testing of creatives, rapid lead generation, and straightforward budget control.

LosPollos offers ready-made funnels tailored for Telegram traffic, including smartlinks for Dating, Cams, and iGaming, as well as high-performing landing pages. The platform accepts mixed traffic from any GEO and automatically routes each user to the most suitable offer based on language, device type, and behavioral patterns. This enables affiliates to launch bundles quickly and achieve stable, predictable results from the very beginning.

To earn more, you need to know how the official advertising account and Telegram advertising exchange work. Understand the costs of promotion and avoid mistakes that limit your traffic gains. 

Advertising on Telegram – what it’s like

For media buyers, Telegram offers a straightforward platform. It has high engagement and an audience that values direct, honest communication. The messenger lets you promote nearly any offer. This includes goods, services, subscriptions, and more. Today, you can place ads on Telegram in different ways. Each method has unique features, benefits, and costs.

Official advertising through Telegram Ads

Telegram Ads is an official tool for promoting within the messenger. It’s made for legal and large-scale engagement with the TG audience. You can use it to send sponsored messages in big, verified channels. This way, you reach real users directly and gain ad impressions without middlemen. Telegram Ads provides clear analytics, adjustable settings, and access to premium, moderated channels on the official Telegram network.

Promotion on Telegram through channels and advertising exchanges

The most popular method is to purchase advertising directly on Telegram channels. This is a classic type of arbitrage. It’s great for people who enjoy testing combinations by hand and looking for a live audience.

Ad exchanges are platforms that gather channels by topic. They show viewing stats, subscriber counts, and placement costs. Platforms like Telega.io, Epicstars, BuzzGuru, and Combot Ads let affiliates choose a channel. After payment, they can post text, banners, videos, or polls. They can also add links to offers, landing pages, or bots. Then, they track performance using UTM tags, even without contacting the administrator. Affiliates often use Telegram to promote themselves. It’s a great tool for testing ideas and quickly checking how offers perform. Stories, provocative texts, and formats close to the channel’s native content work well here.

The only risk is low-quality channels with inflated audiences. Experienced media buyers always check viewing dynamics, commenter activity, and the subscriber-to-reach ratio.

Advertising through Telegram Mini Apps, bots, and game mechanics

Interactive advertising in Telegram bots and mini-apps is gaining traction. These can be games, quizzes, CPA bots, or mini-landing pages in the messenger. This advertising on Telegram works best for offers that need engagement and gamification. Examples include gaming, subscriptions, and dating. It allows you to keep the user in the messenger without taking them to external browsers. It is suitable for affiliates who work with CPA traffic, bots, or are simply looking for a non-standard format. You can find flexible analytics here. Track transitions, clicks, and actions. Also, optimize conversion. 

Seeding and influencer advertising on Telegram

A great way to promote a Telegram channel is by partnering with bloggers and communities. They can mention your product or channel in posts, reviews, or stories. Influencers and bloggers create trust through seeding. This helps bring in a steady stream of users. Engaging with your audience in real-time can effectively promote your Telegram channel or offer. Focus on insider knowledge and relevant topics for the best results.

Advantages of advertising on Telegram for affiliates

The main advantage of Telegram is its structure. It’s not a classic social network. Instead, it’s a network of channels and communities. Users choose to subscribe to specific content. Thanks to this, the traffic here is warm, engaged, and readily responds to native offers. You can also flexibly build a strategy for any vertical and don’t have to fight algorithms that «don’t like» CPA offers.

1. Telegram is one of the most arbitrage-friendly platforms. You can choose almost any topic, as long as it’s reasonable. The publishing rules are simple, unlike those for Facebook Ads or TikTok. You can promote affiliate program offers, bots, subscriptions, and digital products. You don’t have to worry about your ad account getting banned for the text.
2. Users who subscribe to a Telegram channel trust the content. Ads appear among messages from favourite Telegram channels, so CTR and engagement are higher than anywhere else. Native advertising works well in areas where emotions matter. This includes dating, iGaming, finance, fashion, goods, and education.
3. You can use different formats to show ads and create a strategy for any goal. Some tools focus on reach, while others aim for targeted conversion. Together, they help you manage traffic flexibly and boost ROI.
4. Launch ads on Telegram quickly and easily. You can test your creatives in just hours. Change the format, channel, or bid, and see results right away. There is no need to fill out dozens of forms, confirm domains, or go through moderation. This speeds up the process of finding working combinations and saves money at the start.
5. Live traffic from real users, not machine learning guesswork. Telegram does not yet have complex recommendation algorithms that «eat up» reach or cut impressions. Therefore, it is easier to catch an audience with a specific interest here.
6. Convenient analytics and integrations – Telegram Ads offers stats on CPM, reach, CTR, and geo. You can also use trackers to calculate ROI, CPL, and EPC accurately.

Telegram Ads – how the advertising account works

Telegram Ads works on an auction basis: you create an ad, select a region, set a bid and pay for impressions. The system automatically spreads impressions across your chosen channels and regions. It does this based on your CPM bid and topic. The interface is not yet overloaded with options – Telegram focuses on minimalism and transparency. There are no complex pixel analytics here, as in Meta or TikTok, but there is honest reach and a real audience.

Where are ads displayed in Telegram?

Telegram Ads sponsored messages are displayed within public channels with more than 1,000 subscribers. Official advertising on TG is great for media buyers. It helps them scale up using a proven channel. They can attract their target audience and must follow the rules.

• The ad text should be short and clear, with a limit of 160 characters, including punctuation and emojis.
• Advertisements with banners or videos up to 60 seconds long are available, but this increases the minimum CPM rate by 50-100%;
• In Telegram, advertising can only lead to a public TG channel, chatbot, or post within the messenger. Only for some formats (e.g., media) may a transition to external resources be permitted.

Targeting parameters in Telegram Ads

Telegram Ads isn’t as detailed in segmentation as Facebook or Google. But it’s straightforward and fair. Targeting is based on channel and user parameters: subject matter, geography, language. Telegram doesn’t currently consider age and gender. This isn’t a drawback for all affiliates. For some, it allows for wide testing. Then, they can optimize precisely at the funnel and landing page levels.

Telegram payment models – which one to choose?

Telegram Ads uses a CPM model, which means you pay for every thousand impressions. The placements depend on an auction system. So, higher bids lead to more impressions. 

Direct cooperation with Telegram is realistic mainly for large brands and agencies. They are the ones who want to run big international campaigns. Media buyers can use Telegram Ads via partner agencies or resellers. This option lets them start with smaller budgets. This option is for anyone who wants to work cleanly. You get official inventory and clear analytics, so you won’t risk your accounts. 

Please note that since Telegram does not support CPC and CPA models, you will have to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns manually, calculating CPL or ROI through trackers (Keitaro, Binom, Voluum, etc.).

How much does advertising on Telegram cost?

The cost of advertising on Telegram depends on the format and scale of the campaign.

1. Telegram Ads operates on a CPM auction model – you pay for 1,000 impressions, with the rate depending on the topic, geography, and competition. The minimum price is 0.1 TON (≈ $0.35), but in expensive niches, the average CPM ranges from 1 to 5 TON ($3–15). 

Direct cooperation with the platform has a high entry threshold – €2 million. You can buy advertising on Telegram for $50 to $100 per day through official partners and resellers. Also, when working through official partners and resellers, a commission of 15–20% is added to the budget, and in some countries, VAT is also added.

2. Advertising rates on Telegram vary based on the topic and audience quality.

• mass niches (humour, lifestyle, quotes) – from $1–3 per 1,000 views;
• financial and business channels with a solvent audience – from $10 and above;
• top channels with an active audience – from $200 to $5,000 per post;
• advertising on bloggers’ Telegram channels has individual pricing. Most posts cost between $100 and $2,000. The price depends on the blogger’s reach and reputation.

3. Advertising on Telegram Mini Apps, bots, and games usually follows a CPC or CPA model. It often works through affiliate networks. The cost per click in these formats is often lower than in channel placements. It ranges from $0.03 to $0.10. However, the effectiveness relies on the funnel and settings.

Affiliates should know that the cost of advertising on Telegram isn’t fixed. Instead, it varies within a range. The platform’s main advantage is that you can test ideas with small investments. You can scale up only after the bundle shows results.

Recommended minimum budget to start

• The Telegram advertising exchange or affiliate network needs $300–500 for initial testing. This amount helps evaluate audience responses. With this budget, you can launch multiple creatives in the Telegram affiliate program. This lets you test topics and gather initial stats.
• If you plan to work on an official platform with wide coverage, it is best to allocate $1,000–2,000. This will ensure stable impressions, accurate analytics, and sufficient data for optimisation.
• For manual advertising channels and placements, begin with smaller amounts: $50 to $100 each.

Which verticals are suitable for advertising on Telegram Ads

TG isn’t just an ad platform for bland banners. It’s a space where decisions happen fast. Here, messages are read in the messenger, not just scrolled through in a feed. Telegram ads work best in niches that value trust, quick responses, and personal connections with their audience.

Telegram Ads and channel ads perform well in areas where users are active. They like engaging with content and sharing their thoughts.

• Dating and Cams are verticals with huge potential for those who drive traffic from Telegram. Here, the audience is active, engaged, and quick to respond to interesting offers. Telegram works great for dating. Users can easily switch to bots and mini-apps. This makes communication feel natural and personal. The vertical cams are performing well. The messenger’s privacy creates a cozy vibe. Also, creatives with light, intriguing messages do better than aggressive landing pages.
• The iGaming sector is growing fast on Telegram. Mini-apps, game bots, sweepstakes, tournaments, and sports predictions are all being promoted there. You can create buzz before registration or deposit by using seeding, mini-apps, and native integrations. Using game mechanics like bonuses per click, free spins, and mini-games helps too. Such creatives get an instant response and increase CTR significantly. 
• IT, SaaS, and digital products – both proprietary applications and service subscriptions. You can advertise on Telegram to reach professional groups in tech, marketing, design, and development. Users here are open to new ideas and eager to try products.
• Advertising on Telegram channels boosts sales for eCommerce. This includes clothing, gadgets, cosmetics, home goods, and cars. Seeding and native integrations perform better than direct ads. Users are more likely to click when they see a product as part of a selection, review, or recommendation. For affiliates, this is a chance to test new offers with a low entry threshold and quick feedback.
• Education and courses in marketing, finance, programming, languages, and soft skills are well-received. Promoting these offers is most effective when you combine advertising with a Telegram channel, a mini-webinar, or free materials.
• Gaming and Subscriptions. Telegram helps promote apps, gaming projects, and subscriptions for premium content. Users can easily access bots through the platform.
  By directing advertising traffic to mini-applications or bots, it is easy to test such combinations.

Who is Telegram promotion not suitable for?

Despite all its advantages, advertising on Telegram is not suitable for everyone. There are areas where the platform may not deliver the desired volume or may quickly drain your budget. For example:

1. New and complex products can struggle without context. Users often don’t see their value. There are no algorithms, like Facebook’s, to help engage them.
2. Users can overspend their budget on Telegram when they need precise targeting. It does not yet allow you to filter users by age, gender or interests, only by geography, language and channel topics. If you invest in offers needing precise segmentation, like fashion for women aged 25-34, you’ll need to balance this with creative content and landing pages.
3. For offers that need more time to decide, Telegram might not work well. It’s a platform for quick reactions and impulse buys. So, traffic here can fade fast.
4. In combinations without funnel conversions will be low. If you simply throw a link to a landing page without any intermediate interaction, the ad will be perceived as spam. Telegram requires engagement – a mini-bot, quiz, teaser channel, and useful content.
5. If you need «visual» advertising Telegram Ads may seem too limited, as it does not support media formats. For fashion, interior design, or food, using posts in channels or seeding works better. You can add photos, videos, and emotional touches to engage your audience.

Telegram is a great platform for affiliates in fast-converting niches with active audiences. If the link is clearly structured and the offer looks native, the platform provides a high ROI and a stable flow of quality traffic.

Examples of creatives for advertising on Telegram for different verticals

Good creative on Telegram is not just text. You only have 160 characters to grab attention, evoke emotion, and get people to click. It’s important to speak «like a human»: without templates and grandiose promises.

Dating and subscriptions require an emotional but light-hearted approach. Test neutral texts without explicit calls to action – Telegram appreciates this.

• A new dating app without fakes and unnecessary swipes. Find someone to talk to today!
• Subscribe to our Telegram bot and get exclusive content without registering.

iGaming on Telegram works best with short, dynamic texts with a call to action – bonus, free spins, participation, chance. Add an element of excitement, but don’t overdo it – the messenger responds well to light interest without aggression.

• Hurry up and grab your bonus! Register via Telegram and get 50 free spins with no deposit required.
• Sports predictions from insiders. Subscribe and get free signals every day.

Finance and investments are promoted through formats with numbers, but without an aggressive tone.

• How to get +15% per month, even without trading experience? Join our Telegram channel with daily signals.
• Want to know where the market will go tomorrow? The bot will show you the forecast and the best entry points.

Ecommerce and goods Telegram requires emotion and specificity, as it is a visually limited environment:

• Autumn hit! Wireless headphones with a 40% discount today only.

Fast delivery and round-the-clock support – go for it!

• Found the perfect night light – works with one touch. Photos and videos on the channel.

Info products on Telegram bring income for affiliates if there is a real bonus: a free lesson, checklist or webinar.

• Master the QA profession in 2 months and start earning in IT. Free support from mentors – start tomorrow!
• Want to write websites and earn money as a freelancer? Subscribe and I’ll show you how to start earning honest money online.

In gaming and entertainment, Telegram’s users like simple challenges and quick rewards. Therefore, it is important to have a short message and an action that can be done in a couple of seconds in your creatives.

• Play, earn and withdraw bonuses! A new mobile RPG with real payouts. Be the first to try it!
• Take the quiz and get a free skin. Only for new channel subscribers!

Mistakes when launching advertising on Telegram and how to avoid them

Advertising on Telegram seems simple – choose channels, set a price, wait for leads. But in practice, most people blow their budget right at the start. To avoid repeating typical mistakes, it is important to understand how to advertise on Telegram and what can go wrong.

1. Promoting a Telegram channel without a clear strategy can be tough. You need to know what to sell and who your audience is. If users don’t understand why they should subscribe, subscriptions will be expensive. To explain the value, think through the path: advertising → first post → content that will keep them engaged.
2. Buying advertising at random. It is not immediately clear where to buy advertising on Telegram, so many chase after the number of subscribers or popular channels. But 3 accurate placements are better than 10 random ones. To pick the right channels, look at the viewing stats. Check the reach-to-subscriber ratio, publication frequency, and engagement levels. The Telegram advertising exchange will help you weed out fakes and choose high-quality channels with real people, not bots.
3. Incorrect advertising settings in Telegram often lead to low CTR and inflated CPM. It’s easy to choose a broad audience in Telegram Ads. So, set clear limits right away. Focus on 1-2 countries and a few relevant topics. This helps the system show your ads to the right people.
4. Weak creatives like «Subscribe to our channel» don’t work. You only have 160 characters to hook your audience. Use specifics, intrigue, and benefits. If you’re stuck, look at others’ ideas for inspiration. They can spark your own Telegram advertising masterpieces.
5. Launching without tracking metrics is a direct path to wasting your budget. Change your texts, posting times, and topics. Track CTR, CPM, and subscriber cost. Even free advertising on Telegram (mutual seeding, mentions) should bring measurable results.
6. Landing pages that are not adapted for mobile, slow or of poor quality have a negative impact on advertising effectiveness. Check the mobile version in advance – this directly affects the price of advertising and leads.

Many affiliates regularly invest in Meta, TikTok, and Google. However, Telegram is still a less crowded platform. This means lower rates, higher visibility, and more room for experimentation. The TG audience is growing, especially in the CIS, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia. With this growth, your chances to scale also increase.

Telegram is not a place for chaotic and random launches. This format is not about luck, but about a systematic approach. Build your connections, funnels, and analytics well. Then, advertising on Telegram will pay off quickly and bring in steady traffic. To save time on manual optimization, connect LosPollos smart links. The system will distribute traffic to the right offers. It does this based on the user’s location, language, and device. This allows you to focus on scaling while the algorithms do all the work for you.