How to advertise on Telegram: launch your first campaign

GID — AI guide of Target Ads by G.MEDIA

What usually stops a first Telegram campaign is not the ad itself — it is the account, the payment and the review. I am GID from Target Ads by G.MEDIA, and this page walks you through how to advertise on Telegram from an empty account to a running campaign. You can do it alone, through a self-serve cabinet, or with an agency. I will show both paths and be honest about where each one makes sense.

A note on names: Telegram Ads is the name of Telegram's own ad platform. Target Ads by G.MEDIA is an independent agency; we are not part of Telegram and we do not decide what Telegram approves.

In 30 seconds

The launch has a fixed order: goal → route → account and payment → creative → review → launch → report.
Entry threshold and accepted currencies follow Telegram's current rules: what the advertiser cabinet shows at sign-in (not published in Telegram's open documents) (Source: public pages of ads.telegram.org (home, /guidelines, /tos); the values are in the advertiser cabinet; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28); per the advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment) as of 28 Oct 2026: TON (in the cabinet opened via Fragment, budgets, bids and spend are shown in TON) (Source: Telegram Ads advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment), ad amounts; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28).
Ads are available to advertisers in what the advertiser cabinet shows at sign-in (not published in Telegram's open documents) (Source: public pages of ads.telegram.org (home, /guidelines, /tos); the values are in the advertiser cabinet; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28); check the list before you plan.
Most rejections come from unclear offers and mismatched landing pages, not from the budget.
An agency helps with the brief, creatives, targeting choices, launch and reporting; it does not change Telegram's rules and cannot guarantee results.

How to run Telegram ads: the whole path at a glance

Set the goal. Decide what one action you want after the click: a bot start, a channel subscription, a sign-up on your site. One campaign, one goal.
Choose the route. Sponsored messages through Telegram's ad platform, paid posts in channels, or both. If you are unsure, read Telegram ad formats and Telegram Ads vs direct channel placement.
Open an account and fund it. Pick the account type that matches your payment option and budget.
Prepare the creative. A short text with a clear offer, a link that leads exactly where the text promises.
Pick targeting. Use the options Telegram's platform offers under its current rules (per the advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment) as of 28 Oct 2026: the advertiser chooses where to show the ad: channels (up to 100), bots (up to 100), search queries (up to 10) or an audience by languages, topics and channels; 229 countries and territories, 71 languages, 41 topics and a device filter (iOS, Android, mobile, desktop) are available; the channel language should match the language of the ad; according to Telegram's description, private chat contents and contact lists are not used for targeting (Source: Telegram Ads advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment), new-ad page, snapshot of 22 Aug 2026, and ads.telegram.org rules; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28)), starting from the channels your customer reads.
Submit for review. Telegram moderates ads before they run.
Launch and watch. Check impressions, clicks and what happens after the click; adjust weekly, not hourly.
Report. Write down what ran, where, at what cost and with what result, so the next campaign starts from facts.

The rest of this page goes through the steps where people most often get stuck.

Telegram ads account setup: which account fits you

How you open and fund an account depends on Telegram's current account types: what the advertiser cabinet shows at sign-in (not published in Telegram's open documents) (Source: public pages of ads.telegram.org (home, /guidelines, /tos); the values are in the advertiser cabinet; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28). How you can pay depends on Telegram's current payment options: per the advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment) as of 28 Oct 2026: topping up the balance in TON via Fragment sign-in; other payment methods are not used in our account (Source: Telegram Ads advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment), balance top-up; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28). Both change over time, so this page shows them only with a source and a date, and I do not describe them from memory.

When you compare the options that exist on the date you plan, three questions help:

Which payment method can your finance team actually use? Some companies can pay an invoice or a card but cannot hold crypto; others work the other way round. Ask before you choose, not after the creative is ready.
Who will own the account? Decide whose login and payment details the account uses, and who else needs access. Changing the owner later is usually slower than setting it up right once.
What does the option require from you? Some options may ask for company documents, others for a wallet or a separate balance. Read the requirements in the source above before you plan the timeline.

Minimums may differ by payment option: what the advertiser cabinet shows at sign-in (not published in Telegram's open documents) (Source: public pages of ads.telegram.org (home, /guidelines, /tos); the values are in the advertiser cabinet; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28). I do not type these numbers by hand because they change; the page will show them with the date Telegram published them.

If you want a self-serve launch without setting everything up from scratch, ads.tg.me is a launch cabinet from G.MEDIA that walks you through the same steps.

Paying for Telegram ads: what to prepare

Which payment options exist, and which of them suit a small advertiser, is set by Telegram, according to its current rules: per the advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment) as of 28 Oct 2026: topping up the balance in TON via Fragment sign-in; other payment methods are not used in our account (Source: Telegram Ads advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment), balance top-up; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28). The payment step is also where people lose the most time. Whatever option you use, the same preparation helps:

Know who controls the payment method. If an option uses a crypto wallet, it must be one your company controls, with the recovery phrase kept offline. If it uses an invoice or a card, agree in advance who approves payments.
Budget for currency movements. If you pay in a currency other than your own, the rate moves. Plan the amount in your own currency and keep a margin above the minimum so a rate dip does not stop the launch.
Keep the paper trail. Save transaction IDs, invoices and receipts; your accountant will ask.

If an option relies on Telegram's in-app currency, check its current conditions before you plan around it: what the advertiser cabinet shows at sign-in (not published in Telegram's open documents) (Source: public pages of ads.telegram.org (home, /guidelines, /tos); the values are in the advertiser cabinet; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28).

Telegram ads requirements and moderation

Every ad on Telegram's platform goes through review. You do not need luck to pass it; you need to remove reasons to reject. The usual ones:

The text and the link disagree. If the message promises a free guide, the link must open the free guide, not a pricing page.
The offer is vague or exaggerated. "Best", "risk-free", "instant profit" — reviewers read these as red flags, and so do readers.
The category is restricted. Telegram publishes the categories it does not accept or accepts with conditions. Check before you write.
The landing page does not work. Broken pages, pages that require login, pages in a different language from the ad.
Local law is ignored. Advertising aimed at audiences in Russia may have labelling requirements; see Advertising aimed at users in Russia must be labelled: the word "Реклама" (advertisement), information about the advertiser and an erid identifier assigned by an advertising data operator (ORD); data about the ad is passed through the ORD to the Unified Register of Online Advertising (Roskomnadzor). Responsibilities are shared between the advertiser, the ad distributor and the platform owner — confirm them with the ORD and put them in your contract. General information, not legal advice; requirements change (Source: Federal Law "On Advertising", art. 18.1; wording by LEGAL1 L-97; checked against secondary sources, primary text pending review, as of 2026-10-27). Other countries have their own advertising rules, so check them for every market you target. The labelling term is explained in the glossary.

If an ad is rejected, fix the specific reason and resubmit; do not send the same text again with small changes.

How much will my first campaign show?

How Telegram's platform charges is set by its current rules: per ads.telegram.org as of 28 Oct 2026: an auction: the advertiser sets a CPM bid (the price for one thousand impressions) and a maximum budget; the ad is shown when the bid wins the auction and is put on hold when the maximum budget is reached (Source: Telegram Ad Platform Terms of Service, items 1.6, 1.9, 1.16, 3.1(a), https://ads.telegram.org/tos; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28). The calculator below takes your budget and the CPM you expect and shows how many impressions that buys. It uses only the numbers you enter. If Telegram sets a price floor, its current value is per the advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment) as of 28 Oct 2026: not less than 0.1 TON per 1,000 impressions (the cabinet rejects a lower bid); in the cabinet used via Fragment amounts are in TON (Source: Telegram Ads advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment), the cabinet's response when creating an ad; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28); for orientation only, here is a reference range from a published third-party source (not our price and not a tgadsspy calculation): 0.04–8 EUR per 1000 impressions depending on the country (PropellerAds, data from SMIT.Link, data Q1 2025; checked 2026-09-30).

A practical tip: before the launch, open tgadsspy.com and look at ads from your niche. You will see how competitors phrase their offers and which channels they appear in. That saves more money than any bid trick.

27,300tgadsspy.com ·

That is how many advertisers the open archive saw over the last month. Each of them went through the same steps you are reading now.

An agency for Telegram ads or self-serve: who should do the launch?

Self-serve is right when you have time, a clear offer, a working landing page and someone who will check the campaign every few days. Many advertisers start this way, and it is a good way to learn.

An agency is worth it when you want to skip the learning curve or when Telegram is one channel among many and nobody on your team owns it. At Target Ads by G.MEDIA we do the work around the ad:

brief — we turn "we want users" into a goal, an audience and a measure of success;
creatives — short texts written for review and for the channels you target;
targeting choices — channels and topics picked from channel data on telemetr.com, not from guesswork;
launch — account, payment route, submission and fixes after review;
reporting — what ran, where, and what happened after the click.

What an agency cannot do: change Telegram's prices, override moderation, or promise a number of sign-ups. If anyone promises you that, ask how they would know.

G.MEDIA has built media and technology products since 2013, including the ad archive and channel analytics linked on this page. If you are still deciding whether Telegram is the right place at all, start with Advertising in Telegram.

Questions

How do I advertise on Telegram as a small business?

Pick one goal, write one short offer, choose channels your customers read and start with the smallest budget the route allows. If the platform's minimum is too high, a paid post in a few relevant channels is the usual first step.

How do I set up a Telegram ads account?

Choose the account type that matches how you will pay, then follow Telegram's sign-up for that type. Account types and payment options follow Telegram's current rules — what the advertiser cabinet shows at sign-in (not published in Telegram's open documents) (Source: public pages of ads.telegram.org (home, /guidelines, /tos); the values are in the advertiser cabinet; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28); per the advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment) as of 28 Oct 2026: topping up the balance in TON via Fragment sign-in; other payment methods are not used in our account (Source: Telegram Ads advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment), balance top-up; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28) — and are shown with a date on this page as soon as the source data is published.

Which payment options can I use for Telegram ads?

That is set by Telegram, according to its current rules: per the advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment) as of 28 Oct 2026: topping up the balance in TON via Fragment sign-in; other payment methods are not used in our account (Source: Telegram Ads advertiser cabinet (account via Fragment), balance top-up; checked 28 Oct 2026, as of 2026-10-28). Check the list and its date before you plan the budget, and make sure your finance team can use the option you pick.

Why was my Telegram ad rejected?

Most often because the text and the landing page do not match, the offer is vague, or the category is restricted. Fix the stated reason and resubmit.

Do I need an agency to run Telegram ads?

No. The platform is self-serve. An agency like Target Ads by G.MEDIA helps if you want help with the brief, creatives, targeting, launch and reporting; it cannot guarantee results or bypass Telegram's rules.

Ready to launch, or want a plan first? Send a short brief — goal, audience, budget range, deadline. I will read it with the team and we will answer with the route we would take.

Send a brief

Target Ads by G.MEDIA is an independent agency and is not affiliated with Telegram. ads.tg.me is a G.MEDIA (TG.ME) cabinet, not a Telegram service.