Security News > 2021 > October > Telegram launches advertising program for public channels
Telegram has launched a new advertising program dubbed Ad Platform and offering the opportunity to display sponsored messages on the instant-messaging platform.
First and foremost, Telegram advertising is not going to be targeted, which means that users will not be profiled by tracking their clicks and preferences.
The revenue generated through these ads will be shared among Telegram and the owners of the public channels hosting the promotional messages.
Channels eligible for the Ad Platform program must be public and have over 1,000 subscribers, so all private channels are automatically excluded.
As Dorov explained then, he backed Telegram financially for the past 7 years and the growth of the user base is pushing the project to find additional sources of revenue if it wants to remain free for all.
It is estimated that Telegram is used by roughly 550 million people, which is precisely what makes it a lucrative advertising platform.