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The minimum spends look ridiculous. >To ensure and maintain high quality of ad content, a minimum advance payment of €2,000,000 is required to launch ads on th

The minimum spends look ridiculous. >To ensure and maintain high quality of ad content, a minimum advance payment of €2,000,000 is required to launch ads on the Telegram Ad Platform. >Of this payment, Telegram holds €1,000,000 as a deposit, and makes the remaining sum available to the advertiser to spend on displaying ads. >If the contract is terminated and the advertiser spent less than €10,000,000 on ads within the preceding 12 months, the €1,000,000 deposit is withheld by Telegram. >If the contract is terminated and the advertiser spent more than €10,000,000 on ads within the preceding 12 months, the €1,000,000 deposit is returned. This seems like a solution to Telegram's cashflow problem - doesn't look like it has much runway left.

kumarvvr 5y ago
Are these types of structurings common in the ad industry?
- manigandham 5y ago
  Yes, there are usually minimum spend requirements and other agreements for larger ad campaigns and ongoing relationships, especially with closed platforms like social networks that own the audience and platform. Contracts also include termination terms but upfront deposits like these are more rare.
- est31 5y ago
  As an outsider, what is very common is conversion tracking, aka knowing whether people actually click your ad and buy your products, because that's the ultimate metric to optimize for. Most of the ad tracking we see in the web is actually not needed for the targeting part, but for the conversion tracking part. This product lacks conversion tracking, so I wonder if people with large enough budgets find it justified to run ads on the platform. As a user, I find it great that my privacy is not impinged upon. I hope it will work for them!
  - ackbar03 5y ago
    How do they optimize clicks if they don't impinge on your privacy? I didn't read the page in detail so maybe I'm missing something
    - cuu508 5y ago
      They do not allow external links so there are no clicks.
      - dotancohen 5y ago
        This was actually a genius decision. It also represents a real sacrifice on Telegram's part (sacrificing dollars) to protect user privacy, because advertisers are not going to pay as much for this as they will for other (more invasive) platforms. Be sure to leave feedback with companies to let them know that you found them through Telegram.
  - oefrha 5y ago
    Although no external links are allowed, you can still track conversion with good old promo codes.
  - iamacyborg 5y ago
    > Most of the ad tracking we see in the web is actually not needed for the targeting part That’s because the ad and the auction that precedes it, collects data for further targeting.
- dfadsadsf 5y ago
  Instagram started ads similarly though minimums were lower at around 300k or so. Essentially Telegram wants small number of big advertisers and is willing to accept lower CPM rate to make it worthwhile for those businesses. Telegram ad product and infra are probably not ready to scale right now so they decided to go with manual process. Probably already arranged a few big accounts prior to announcement.
  - bedobi 5y ago
    how is this not anti-competetive behavior? it basically means small businesses have no chance, absolutely no chance at all, to advertise on the platforms
    - namdnay 5y ago
      You go through the agencies that have bought in bulk. In the same way that you don’t go to a Black&Decker office to buy a drill, you get it from one of their distributors, who buy in bulk
    - distances 5y ago
      That's not what anticompetitive means. Being priced out is not an unfair disadvantage. Not all companies can afford TV or Superbowl ads either.
    - na85 5y ago
      There's no blanket ban on "anti competitive behavior", and similarly no rule that says small businesses are owed a leg up. The FTC breaks down anti competition regulation into monopoly-related conduct, which this is obviously not because telegram is a complete non-factor in the messaging space, and horizontal conduct, which this is not because telegram has no near-peer companies with whom they agree not to compete.
- vmception 5y ago
  TikTok's are similar
guerrilla 5y ago
So, this seems like a potential positive feedback loop if Telegram were ever to matter much. Are other platforms like this? If Facebook and Google both did this, it seems like we'd end up with an economy that we don't want (assuming they matter as much as I think they do.)
omarfarooq 5y ago
Where is this from? Not seeing it on the linked page.
- easytiger 5y ago
  If you search the text it leads to a telegram channel with that info and this screenshot from the portal on telegram TIL telegram public channels are Google indexed https://imgur.com/a/vx87neV https://imgur.com/a/vx87neV https://t.me/tginfoen/1281 https://t.me/tginfoen/1281
- captn3m0 5y ago
  I don't see it now, but if you sign in to the Telegram Ads dashboard, it lets you apply as an advertiser. The application form has the above text. It doesn't show up after you've applied. I instead see the following now: >Your request to add funds has been sent. >We have placed your account on the waiting list and will send you a notification as soon as the platform becomes available to you.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
coolspot 5y ago
I think that’s typical for a big platform - big ad agency relationship. These conditions are not for regular ad buyer, but for an agency that commits to the volume and re-sells it to businesses.
- tzekid 5y ago
  How about ad-agencies that sell "Telegram Ad-Space"? Wouldn't that be a workaround for the spammers?
  - capableweb 5y ago
    My guess is that the agency providing a service to spammers wouldn't, as if Telegram figures out that they are letting spammers through the agency's checks, they can ban them and the agency would lose their deposit.
shp0ngle 5y ago
This, plus the very strict rules (no links, no conversion tracking, no targeting) makes me think this will be hugely unsuccessful But what do I know. I don't have 1 million EUR as a deposit lying around.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
This will hopefully keep out bad actors (spammers, fraudsters). If they can afford doing this, good on them. Telegram is home to many cryptocurrency communities, the first thing I thought of when I saw this was that it's going to be heaven for phishers/fraudsters targeting those.
- cunidev 5y ago
  As a reminder, Crypto.com alone just spent $100M on an advertising campaign involving Matt Damon, urging people to buy currencies and comparing crypto buyers to colonizers of America, or the great generals of history, or something like that. So the crypto space definitely has money to invest on advertising, if anything to remain up to their promises a bit longer.
- danlugo92 5y ago
  Can you point to some good bitcoin-centric communities in telegram please?
  - tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
    No, I don't use it, but at least some time ago when I was following it a bit more closely every new shitcoin/-token had Telegram as their primary communication channel.
Shank 5y ago
> This seems like a solution to Telegram's cashflow problem - doesn't look like it has much runway left. There’s a lot to unpack here. Telegram has plenty of runway left, probably. Pavel Durov is not strapped for cash. That’s just a fact. They’ve been pushing out regular updates with features and other development work that could’ve easily been delayed for the ad platform if it was a priority. They’ve actually deployed bandwidth intense things like video calls, too, which ostensibly are lower priority. What this does to me is signal that Telegram wants to engage with serious advertisers to start with. Because the content is injected into channels, of which there are many, it likely is easier to abuse than other networks. So the solution is to make the barrier to entry sufficiently great that only serious advertisers will buy in. So, I’m less inclined to say they’re in need of cash flow than they are wishing to finally make money, and not do so with low quality content.
- capableweb 5y ago
  > Pavel Durov is not strapped for cash. That’s just a fact. I love Telegram over anything else like others, but I don't think you can say "that's just a fact" unless Durov's finances are public, which as far as I know, they aren't. So yeah, probably he isn't strapped for cash, but that's not a fact, it's a guess.
  - captn3m0 5y ago
    Forbes quotes his net worth at $17B, the vast majority of which comes from Telegram ownership. >[..] his wealth increased from $3.4 billion in 2020 to $17.2 billion in 2021. The wealth of Telegram founder increased exponentially recently after the app became popular.
    - capableweb 5y ago
      > Forbes Forbes is also estimating (fancy guessing), doesn't make it into a fact. > net worth Also not cash, which would be needed to fund Telegram > vast majority of which comes from Telegram ownership Also means you wouldn't be able to use that net worth for funding Telegram, as that's where the net worth comes from anyway.

kumarvvr 5y ago

Are these types of structurings common in the ad industry?

manigandham 5y ago
Yes, there are usually minimum spend requirements and other agreements for larger ad campaigns and ongoing relationships, especially with closed platforms like social networks that own the audience and platform. Contracts also include termination terms but upfront deposits like these are more rare.
est31 5y ago
As an outsider, what is very common is conversion tracking, aka knowing whether people actually click your ad and buy your products, because that's the ultimate metric to optimize for. Most of the ad tracking we see in the web is actually not needed for the targeting part, but for the conversion tracking part. This product lacks conversion tracking, so I wonder if people with large enough budgets find it justified to run ads on the platform. As a user, I find it great that my privacy is not impinged upon. I hope it will work for them!
- ackbar03 5y ago
  How do they optimize clicks if they don't impinge on your privacy? I didn't read the page in detail so maybe I'm missing something
  - cuu508 5y ago
    They do not allow external links so there are no clicks.
    - dotancohen 5y ago
      This was actually a genius decision. It also represents a real sacrifice on Telegram's part (sacrificing dollars) to protect user privacy, because advertisers are not going to pay as much for this as they will for other (more invasive) platforms. Be sure to leave feedback with companies to let them know that you found them through Telegram.
- oefrha 5y ago
  Although no external links are allowed, you can still track conversion with good old promo codes.
- iamacyborg 5y ago
  > Most of the ad tracking we see in the web is actually not needed for the targeting part That’s because the ad and the auction that precedes it, collects data for further targeting.
dfadsadsf 5y ago
Instagram started ads similarly though minimums were lower at around 300k or so. Essentially Telegram wants small number of big advertisers and is willing to accept lower CPM rate to make it worthwhile for those businesses. Telegram ad product and infra are probably not ready to scale right now so they decided to go with manual process. Probably already arranged a few big accounts prior to announcement.
- bedobi 5y ago
  how is this not anti-competetive behavior? it basically means small businesses have no chance, absolutely no chance at all, to advertise on the platforms
  - namdnay 5y ago
    You go through the agencies that have bought in bulk. In the same way that you don’t go to a Black&Decker office to buy a drill, you get it from one of their distributors, who buy in bulk
  - distances 5y ago
    That's not what anticompetitive means. Being priced out is not an unfair disadvantage. Not all companies can afford TV or Superbowl ads either.
  - na85 5y ago
    There's no blanket ban on "anti competitive behavior", and similarly no rule that says small businesses are owed a leg up. The FTC breaks down anti competition regulation into monopoly-related conduct, which this is obviously not because telegram is a complete non-factor in the messaging space, and horizontal conduct, which this is not because telegram has no near-peer companies with whom they agree not to compete.
vmception 5y ago
TikTok's are similar

guerrilla 5y ago

So, this seems like a potential positive feedback loop if Telegram were ever to matter much. Are other platforms like this? If Facebook and Google both did this, it seems like we'd end up with an economy that we don't want (assuming they matter as much as I think they do.)

omarfarooq 5y ago

Where is this from? Not seeing it on the linked page.

easytiger 5y ago
If you search the text it leads to a telegram channel with that info and this screenshot from the portal on telegram TIL telegram public channels are Google indexed https://imgur.com/a/vx87neV https://imgur.com/a/vx87neV https://t.me/tginfoen/1281 https://t.me/tginfoen/1281
captn3m0 5y ago
I don't see it now, but if you sign in to the Telegram Ads dashboard, it lets you apply as an advertiser. The application form has the above text. It doesn't show up after you've applied. I instead see the following now: >Your request to add funds has been sent. >We have placed your account on the waiting list and will send you a notification as soon as the platform becomes available to you.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

coolspot 5y ago

I think that’s typical for a big platform - big ad agency relationship. These conditions are not for regular ad buyer, but for an agency that commits to the volume and re-sells it to businesses.

tzekid 5y ago
How about ad-agencies that sell "Telegram Ad-Space"? Wouldn't that be a workaround for the spammers?
- capableweb 5y ago
  My guess is that the agency providing a service to spammers wouldn't, as if Telegram figures out that they are letting spammers through the agency's checks, they can ban them and the agency would lose their deposit.

shp0ngle 5y ago

This, plus the very strict rules (no links, no conversion tracking, no targeting) makes me think this will be hugely unsuccessful But what do I know. I don't have 1 million EUR as a deposit lying around.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago

This will hopefully keep out bad actors (spammers, fraudsters). If they can afford doing this, good on them. Telegram is home to many cryptocurrency communities, the first thing I thought of when I saw this was that it's going to be heaven for phishers/fraudsters targeting those.

cunidev 5y ago
As a reminder, Crypto.com alone just spent $100M on an advertising campaign involving Matt Damon, urging people to buy currencies and comparing crypto buyers to colonizers of America, or the great generals of history, or something like that. So the crypto space definitely has money to invest on advertising, if anything to remain up to their promises a bit longer.
danlugo92 5y ago
Can you point to some good bitcoin-centric communities in telegram please?
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
  No, I don't use it, but at least some time ago when I was following it a bit more closely every new shitcoin/-token had Telegram as their primary communication channel.

Shank 5y ago

> This seems like a solution to Telegram's cashflow problem - doesn't look like it has much runway left. There’s a lot to unpack here. Telegram has plenty of runway left, probably. Pavel Durov is not strapped for cash. That’s just a fact. They’ve been pushing out regular updates with features and other development work that could’ve easily been delayed for the ad platform if it was a priority. They’ve actually deployed bandwidth intense things like video calls, too, which ostensibly are lower priority. What this does to me is signal that Telegram wants to engage with serious advertisers to start with. Because the content is injected into channels, of which there are many, it likely is easier to abuse than other networks. So the solution is to make the barrier to entry sufficiently great that only serious advertisers will buy in. So, I’m less inclined to say they’re in need of cash flow than they are wishing to finally make money, and not do so with low quality content.

capableweb 5y ago
> Pavel Durov is not strapped for cash. That’s just a fact. I love Telegram over anything else like others, but I don't think you can say "that's just a fact" unless Durov's finances are public, which as far as I know, they aren't. So yeah, probably he isn't strapped for cash, but that's not a fact, it's a guess.
- captn3m0 5y ago
  Forbes quotes his net worth at $17B, the vast majority of which comes from Telegram ownership. >[..] his wealth increased from $3.4 billion in 2020 to $17.2 billion in 2021. The wealth of Telegram founder increased exponentially recently after the app became popular.
  - capableweb 5y ago
    > Forbes Forbes is also estimating (fancy guessing), doesn't make it into a fact. > net worth Also not cash, which would be needed to fund Telegram > vast majority of which comes from Telegram ownership Also means you wouldn't be able to use that net worth for funding Telegram, as that's where the net worth comes from anyway.