Telegram Ads for retailers: how official channel ads work and why they don't link to your website
Telegram Ads shows short sponsored messages in public channels, but it links only within Telegram, to your channel or bot, not your website. Here's what the official help says about format, channel selection, price and statistics, and how to build the path from ad to a purchase in your store.
What is Telegram Ads?
Telegram Ads are sponsored messages in public channels with 1,000+ subscribers. An ad has a title, text of up to 160 characters and a link that becomes a button under the message. Telegram says 1 billion users generate 1 trillion views in public channels every month, and 50% of ad revenue goes to the owners of channels where ads appear. Telegram doesn't use private chat content or contact lists for targeting.
How do you set it up and what does it cost?
You log in to the ad platform with any Telegram account using your phone number. One targeting method is described: you list specific channels by link, and you can't change them after the ad is created, only create a similar ad. The minimum price per 1,000 views in the help page is 0.1 Toncoin. You can increase a budget at any time but not decrease it. Every ad is reviewed. Statistics show views and how many people joined the channel or started the bot after seeing the ad. The official help gives no minimum campaign budget.
What does it mean for a store?
The key limitation: links in an ad must point to a Telegram channel or bot; external websites aren't allowed. So for a store the path is: the ad brings people into your channel or bot, and from there they go to your shop. Without an active channel with offers or a catalogue bot, the ad has nowhere to send people. And it's the channel or bot that decides how many subscribers end up buying.
How do you choose channels and measure results?
Choose channels whose audience matches your buyers by topic and city, and start with a short list. Compare channels not by views but by cost per subscriber, and then by sales. Tag links from your channel to your site with UTM parameters so Google Analytics shows how many orders came from Telegram. That gives you the full path: ad → subscription → click → purchase.
What to do now
- Prepare the destination: a channel with regular offers or a catalogue bot.
- List channels whose audience resembles your buyers and start with a few.
- Write an ad of up to 160 characters with one concrete offer.
- Tag links from your channel to your site with UTM parameters to see Telegram sales.
- Compare channels by cost per subscriber and sales, not by views.
Metriverra shows UTM-tagged Telegram visits next to your other channels, so you can count how many orders Telegram ads brought in.
In short
- Telegram Ads are messages of up to 160 characters in public channels with 1,000+ subscribers.
- Links go only to a Telegram channel or bot, not a website.
- Targeting means choosing specific channels; it can't be changed after creation.
- Minimum price is 0.1 Toncoin per 1,000 views; no official minimum budget.
- For a store the path is: ad → channel/bot → UTM link → purchase.
Sources: Telegram Ads · Telegram Ads — Getting started
