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> Sponsored messages on Telegram are displayed in large public one-to-many channels with 1000+ subscribers and are limited to 160 characters. Sponsored Messages

by azdle 5y ago

> Sponsored messages on Telegram are displayed in large public one-to-many channels with 1000+ subscribers and are limited to 160 characters. Sponsored Messages are based solely on the topic of the public channels in which they are shown. Maybe I'm just not a normal user of telegram and I'm lucky that this doesn't affect me, but this seems like the most reasonable way to do ads. Though something along the lines of discord's nitro would be a nicer way to fund things. I wonder why telegram doesn't do something like that.

ushakov 5y ago
currently most “sponsored messages” on Telegram are crypto scams and other questionable enterprises
- ChildOfChaos 5y ago
  Well that is the very definition of targeted ads, Telegram is mostly crypto scams or some kinda dodgy nonsense. It's the only reason it's used.
  - egypturnash 5y ago
    Furries absolutely love Telegram because you can make custom sticker sets very easily, all you need is some PNGs of your fursona expressing a variety of emotions. The general sentiment I see in the furry fandom is very anti-crypto.
  - JadoJodo 5y ago
    “Mostly” and “only” aren’t the compatible. Anecdotally: I use telegram (and have since Facebook purchased WhatsApp) and I am neither purveyor nor purchaser of “crypto scams” or “dodgy nonsense”.
ushakov 5y ago
> Though something along the lines of discord's nitro would be a nicer way to fund things. I wonder why telegram doesn't do something like that. i’m placing my bet that they soon will they can’t lose money forever
- kaba0 5y ago
  I believe that is the plan: payed version will get rid of the public chat ads, but private chats will remain always ad-free, according to the CEO.
Sebb767 5y ago
> Though something along the lines of discord's nitro would be a nicer way to fund things. I wonder why telegram doesn't do something like that. I'd guess because paid features quickly exclude people in poorer countries and people that prefer to remain anonymous, both of which are avid telegram users. Also, remember that WhatsApp choose the same route, despite actually being non-free for quite some time. It might be simply be the better market strategy.
- OJFord 5y ago
  WhatsApp was 99p/year or something silly wasn't it? Seems too low for the bottom line to be the reasoning to me (vs. preparing to raise it, image/positioning, or something).
  - Fatnino 5y ago
    It also had like a billion users at the time. So a billion dollars a year.
- beagle3 5y ago
  You need to have a phone number to use Telegram, and (at least in the past) they rather aggressively banned "temporary phone number" based registrations. And the default settings expose your real identity to anyone who already has you in their phone book. So, no - Telegram never did appeal to those who prefer to remain anonymous - at least those of them who paid attention.
- miki123211 5y ago
  For a lot of people, the price is not the problem, being able to get the money to where it needs to be is. This is almost never a problem in Silicon Valley and rarely a problem in the US, but most definitely a thing in other countries. For example, in Poland where I live, we have some really advanced online payments systems that we use locally, but none of them are supported by either App Store or Google Play. Because those systems exist, paying on line with a debit card (credit cards are much less of a thing here) just seems strange, especially if you're 30+, non tech savvy and don't speak English. A lot of people refuse to give their credit card number to anyone because they fear it might be stolen. There was a survey by one of our audiobook streaming companies (Storytel), and this is indeed a big problem. If I remember correctly, about 90% of users who signed up for an account but churned at the "choose your payment method" step cited "won't pay with a payment card online" as the reason. Since our payment systems aren't compatible with subscriptions, they needed to add a way to subscribe through your phone carrier. This is probably the reason why What's App never got much traction here. Instead, people went with Messenger, which was always free. It also doesn't require giving out your phone number, something we seem to have more issues with, as compared to Americans for example. What's App is usually known as the app you use to talk to family members abroad, Messenger is the thing you use for everything else. There are, of course, other reasons why you might not be able to get apps / subscriptions. Being underage is probably the most common one, once again, you probably do have money, but it's probably in cash.

by azdle 5y ago

ushakov 5y ago

currently most “sponsored messages” on Telegram are crypto scams and other questionable enterprises

ChildOfChaos 5y ago
Well that is the very definition of targeted ads, Telegram is mostly crypto scams or some kinda dodgy nonsense. It's the only reason it's used.
- egypturnash 5y ago
  Furries absolutely love Telegram because you can make custom sticker sets very easily, all you need is some PNGs of your fursona expressing a variety of emotions. The general sentiment I see in the furry fandom is very anti-crypto.
- JadoJodo 5y ago
  “Mostly” and “only” aren’t the compatible. Anecdotally: I use telegram (and have since Facebook purchased WhatsApp) and I am neither purveyor nor purchaser of “crypto scams” or “dodgy nonsense”.

ushakov 5y ago

> Though something along the lines of discord's nitro would be a nicer way to fund things. I wonder why telegram doesn't do something like that. i’m placing my bet that they soon will they can’t lose money forever

kaba0 5y ago
I believe that is the plan: payed version will get rid of the public chat ads, but private chats will remain always ad-free, according to the CEO.

Sebb767 5y ago

> Though something along the lines of discord's nitro would be a nicer way to fund things. I wonder why telegram doesn't do something like that. I'd guess because paid features quickly exclude people in poorer countries and people that prefer to remain anonymous, both of which are avid telegram users. Also, remember that WhatsApp choose the same route, despite actually being non-free for quite some time. It might be simply be the better market strategy.

OJFord 5y ago
WhatsApp was 99p/year or something silly wasn't it? Seems too low for the bottom line to be the reasoning to me (vs. preparing to raise it, image/positioning, or something).
- Fatnino 5y ago
  It also had like a billion users at the time. So a billion dollars a year.
beagle3 5y ago
You need to have a phone number to use Telegram, and (at least in the past) they rather aggressively banned "temporary phone number" based registrations. And the default settings expose your real identity to anyone who already has you in their phone book. So, no - Telegram never did appeal to those who prefer to remain anonymous - at least those of them who paid attention.
miki123211 5y ago
For a lot of people, the price is not the problem, being able to get the money to where it needs to be is. This is almost never a problem in Silicon Valley and rarely a problem in the US, but most definitely a thing in other countries. For example, in Poland where I live, we have some really advanced online payments systems that we use locally, but none of them are supported by either App Store or Google Play. Because those systems exist, paying on line with a debit card (credit cards are much less of a thing here) just seems strange, especially if you're 30+, non tech savvy and don't speak English. A lot of people refuse to give their credit card number to anyone because they fear it might be stolen. There was a survey by one of our audiobook streaming companies (Storytel), and this is indeed a big problem. If I remember correctly, about 90% of users who signed up for an account but churned at the "choose your payment method" step cited "won't pay with a payment card online" as the reason. Since our payment systems aren't compatible with subscriptions, they needed to add a way to subscribe through your phone carrier. This is probably the reason why What's App never got much traction here. Instead, people went with Messenger, which was always free. It also doesn't require giving out your phone number, something we seem to have more issues with, as compared to Americans for example. What's App is usually known as the app you use to talk to family members abroad, Messenger is the thing you use for everything else. There are, of course, other reasons why you might not be able to get apps / subscriptions. Being underage is probably the most common one, once again, you probably do have money, but it's probably in cash.