I hope this works for telegram! They were going to need to launch ads at some point and this transparent plan to get started seems like it considered the user base. It’s become my favorite messaging app and I enjoy the pace of innovation. I get it’s not end to end encrypted but that’s not what I am asking for with telegram - just a decent messaging app that makes it easy to remain anonymous (not sharing phone number), great group support, and not domiciled in the west.<p>I know the ads plan will expand (I could see ads in 1000+ person groups and not limited to only channels)
Some answers and clarification on ads from Pavel Durov [1](Google Translate):<p>“Many users have suggested introducing the ability to disable official advertisements on Telegram channels. Today we are announcing two more changes:<p>1. Users will be able to disable official advertisements.<p>We have already started work on this new feature and look forward to launching it this month. It can be issued in the form of an inexpensive subscription, which will allow any user to directly financially support the development of Telegram and never see official advertisements in the channels.<p>2. Channel authors will be able to turn off official advertisements in their channels for all users.<p>Some channel creators would also like to "turn off" advertisements in their channels for all users. At the moment, we are calculating the economic conditions for this option. Advertisers will soon be able to place an "invisible" ad on any channel that - assuming there is sufficient cost per impression - will result in no ads on that channel.<p>Let me remind you that Telegram as a messenger will always be free of ads:<p>Telegram will not show promotional messages in your chat list, private conversations or groups. Advertising will affect only large channels - services where there is already advertising, and the support of which leads to the greatest costs on the part of Telegram.<p>We will continue to work on features that will allow Telegram to break even. The interests of users and content authors will remain our priority in this process.”<p>1: <a href="https://t.me/durov_russia/36" rel="nofollow">https://t.me/durov_russia/36</a>
> Turn off ad blocker<p>> You appear to be using an ad blocker that may prevent pages on the Telegram Ad Platform from working as expected.<p>> Please turn off your ad blocker or add promote.telegram.org as an exception to manage your promoted messages.
> Close<p>Oh, well ^^<p>I was a Telegram user for year until I completely switched to Signal 2.5 years ago.<p>I'd pay 1-10€ a year for a Telegram experience with e2e and without ads.<p>Why can't the old WA model be used ?
I’m very curious to see if this is a success for the platform! It looks like a very not-creepy way to serve up ads.<p>One thing concerns me though (if I were to ever end up wanting to advertise) - no external links! Giving the audience to the thing I’m advertising is most of the reason I’d spend money on an ad.<p>I wonder what sorts of ads are useful if they’re text-only? They qualify no “external” links, so maybe you could still have links to another product-specific channel where there are external links?
The minimum spends look ridiculous.<p>>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.<p>>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.<p>>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.<p>>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.<p>This seems like a solution to Telegram's cashflow problem - doesn't look like it has much runway left.
<i>> Unlike other apps, Telegram doesn't track whether users tap on a sponsored message and doesn't profile them based on their activity.</i><p>I wonder how this will go down with advertisers used to the usual pay-per-click and being able to demographically target their audience before spending their ad dollars.
I don't get how HN are working. I've submitted that exact URL 12 days ago: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=SergeAx" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=SergeAx</a>
How about instead, you offer me the ability to buy into your platform? Offer me the ability to use the platform, and pay a monthly fee, as opposed to seeing ads.
Here's hoping there will be a way to pay for no ads.<p>But a question to HN: why have we not seen a mass-market adoption of a P2P, non-centralised messaging system that requires no external services to work?<p>Mesh and other sorts of networks are cumbersome and have <i>not</i> reached mass-market adoption, so what (technically) is stopping a true E2E P2P platform?
When Facebook acquired WhatsApp I hoped that Telegram will do better, but it's been so many years now and they still don't open source everything and use their homemade cryptography. I find that really unfortunate because the app itself is really great, but not more trustworthy than WhatsApp.
Their test rollout was universally reviled:<p>- it came as a hidden message at the very end of the message timeline<p>- it broke unread count on many clients (since it was hidden, it was unread, and there were no notifications other than the unread count on the app's icon that wouldn't go away)<p>- the test messages ended with "how will it affect you/users?) and instead of leading a post with an answer, it simply dumped you in Pavel Durov's chat<p>- they looked exactly as any other message in the timeline with no indication it was an ad<p>Presumably all this will be fixed, but people are kinda pissed.
Any Telegram users here?<p>I've only ever heard it used when talking about batshit American cults.<p>Not exactly a target audience i want to reach.
I love the Telegram UX but have always been wary of its owner’s benevolence. They have bootstrapped an amazing platform and I hope they are able to get a strong ROI without compromising the great community they have built.
This is a wise move - apart from the finances and steady revenue stream, Telegram is well aware that most channel owners already include "paid posts" and sponsor messages. As a channel owner, the biggest stumbling block is discoverability. Therefore, you contact big channel owners and request them to put up your post (or pay extra to pin it).<p>There's a cost involved - it depends on the number of subscriptions. Though, from my rough estimates, 1 in 5 subscribers end up getting it. There are detailed channel statistics that measure the impact of each post made.<p>I notice the discussion here is being done by most users, who don't have channels or not on Telegram either. There has been a gradual acceptance of Telegram here, which is vying for a serious social media alternative. WhatsApp plans to roll out "Communities" in response to Telegram channels. However, its ownership is nuclear waste.<p>They have several innovative features in pipeline. I use channel to relay video calling (I can record it and host unlimited users). The video calling has improved by leaps and bounds in past several weeks and has become a serious alternative to Facetime.
>Telegram will not show promotional messages in your chat list, private conversations or groups. Advertising will affect only large channels - services where there is already advertising, and the support of which leads to the greatest costs on the part of Telegram.<p>That's really, really great. :)
The observation on HN seems rather strange. One Day, HN bash anyone who support Ads as a way forward to offer any Internet services. All Ads are evil. At some point people are even questioning how could anyone be working inside Ad industry.<p>Another day HN are extremely happy to see Telegram getting ads to support their services. Because they are competing with Facebook / Whatsapp.<p>May be after all it isn't Ads are evil or bad, it is ads from Facebook or Google are bad?
I do support Telegram on this one. They need it for their further growth and expansion. This will increase the user and brand of the ads will try to promote.
In the user-directed communication, they claim external links aren't allowed to prevent advertiser spying.<p>But in the advertiser-directed comms, it's clear you can have an external link in a button below the ad text.<p>Am I not seeing something obvious or is it a contradiction?
Telegram's communities are extremely lucrative<p>Whether you created entire country dividing conspiracies just to sell some Q-labeled coffee mugs to the followers, or promoting your next crypto service, Telegram is there<p>Its pretty much the best
As some other users said, this is something it had to be made to basically make some money out of an amazing tool, and I also think that you can keep your ads healthy if you moderate them. It´s fine. (:
Well I guess I won't be seeing any Taco Bell or LSD ads there:<p>> Ads must not promote psychoactive substances, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products or fast food.