How much does it cost to launch Telegram Ads?

The minimum deposit is 1500 EUR (about 150K ₽). The minimum CPM is 1.5 EUR per 1000 impressions. For a real test you need 200-400 EUR (30-50K ₽) to get statistically significant data.

What CPS is considered good in Telegram Ads?

Subscriber cost standard for a TG channel: B2C - 30-80 ₽, B2B - 80-250 ₽, narrow professional niches - 150-400 ₽. If the CPS is higher, either the creative is weak, or the targeting is inaccurate, or the source channel is not suitable for the target audience.

What is better - targeting by channels or by interests?

Targeting by channel gives control and predictability, but requires manual work to select 30-50 channels. Targeting by interests launches and scales faster, but is less predictable in terms of CPS. At the start - first the channels, after stabilization - interests.

How many characters are in a Telegram Ad?

Maximum 160 characters including spaces in body text. Plus a button with a CTA (short phrase). Optional - image (ratio 1:1, up to 5 MB). Long texts are cut off.

How to track conversions from Telegram Ads?

UTM tags in the button (utm_source=tgads), Telegram Ads pixel on the landing page, event transfer to CRM. Y.Metrika and GA4 see transitions through UTM. Direct conversions to CRM - through matching by time or ID.

What niches work in Telegram Ads?

B2B software, education, financial services, B2B consulting, premium e-com, information business, local services (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan). What doesn’t work well: cheap e-com mass market, impulse purchases, brands without a community.

Is it possible to combine Telegram Ads and promotion in TG channels through seeding?

It is possible and necessary. TG Ads provides targeted coverage and subscription through a click on an ad, channel placements are native integrations in channel posts. On my projects, the optimal split is 60/40 or 50/50 in favor of TG Ads for scaling, seeding for a high-quality audience.

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SMMMay 11, 202612 min

Telegram Ads 2026: how to launch from Russia, CPS benchmarks, errors at start

TG Ads from the Russian Federation - only through intermediaries: Telega.in, MTT, AdsTG. Deposit from 1500 EUR, commission 10-25%. CPS benchmarks: B2C 30-80 ₽, B2B 80-250 ₽. Step-by-step setup from registration to launch, the difference between targeting by channels and interests, 5 typical failures. With my experience for 18,000 EUR budget.

Telegram Ads is a “closed club” of the advertising market in the Russian Federation. There is no direct access from Russia, deposit 1500 EUR, intermediaries with a commission of 10-25%. But with proper setup, CPS 30-150 ₽ remains stable, and audience engagement is 3-5 times higher than in VK Ads on the same topic. In the article - what I learned from 4 projects with TG Ads from 2023 to 2026, what works, what doesn’t work and how much it actually costs to launch.

I launched Telegram Ads on 4 projects: B2B software, MedTech, EdTech and my own TG channel. The total budget is about 18,000 EUR for 2 years. The numbers in the article are the median for these projects and correspondence with 6 colleagues running TG Ads on their clients.

The main misunderstanding about Telegram Ads: they think that this is “advertising on Telegram”. It’s more correct to think of it as “advertising in other people’s TG channels with guaranteed coverage.” This is a media channel, not performance in the classical sense.

1. How Telegram Ads works

Telegram Ads is an official advertising system within Telegram, launched in 2021. Ads are shown in public channels with 1000+ subscribers under the latest post or inside the feed. The income is divided: 50% goes to Telegram, 50% goes to the owner of the channel.

Feature for the advertiser: there is no targeting by gender/age/geo as they are used to in VK Ads or Yandex Direct. Targeting is based on channels (list) or interests (larger categories that Telegram itself determines based on the channel content).

2. How to gain access from Russia in 2026

Telegram Ads does not accept payments from Russian cards and does not work with legal entities from the Russian Federation. Access methods:

Through intermediaries. The largest ones for 2026 are Telega.in, MTT (Telecom MTT), AdsTG. They hold their own account with a deposit and sell you campaigns. Commission - 10-25% of the budget. The period for opening an advertising account is 3-7 business days.

Through your own account in Armenia/Kazakhstan. If you have a legal entity or partner there, you can open a direct account. Cheaper (no intermediary commission), but requires legal infrastructure and maintenance.

Through a foreign representative. If you have a reliable contact in the EU/Turkey, you can open an account for him. I do not recommend for large budgets: risks of loss of funds and blocking.

3. Ad format and creative

Telegram Ads is a harsh format. No freedom:

Text - 160 characters with spaces
Button – 1 piece with CTA (short phrase)
Image – optional, 1:1, up to 5 MB
Video - not supported
The link leads either to the website, or to the TG channel, or to the bot

The main rule of good creative in Telegram Ads is nativeness for the placement channel. The ad should look like a regular post in the channel, and not like an advertisement. This is not a banner on the site - it is an insert into the content that the user reads of his own free will.

The working format is: “question → fact → benefit → button.” Doesn’t work: “buy → discount → urgently → button.” The audience of TG channels is extremely sensitive to sales language.

4. Targeting: channels vs interests

There are two targeting options, and the choice between them is the main strategic issue at launch.

Target by channel — you indicate a list of 30-100 channels where you want to appear. The TG algorithm selects relevant posts and displays your advertisement there. Pros: control, predictability, clear target audience. Cons: manual labor to collect channels, limited coverage.

Target by interests — indicate thematic categories (business, marketing, IT, education). TG selects the channels itself. Pros: quick launch, easy scaling. Cons: less control, sometimes impressions in irrelevant channels with similar tags.

My practice: the first 1-2 weeks - targeting by channels (30-50 pieces, manually selected through TGStat). After stabilizing the CPS, we add a target based on interests in parallel for scaling.

5. Benchmarks CTR, CPS, retention

Niche	CTR (normal)	CPS (cost per subscriber)	Retention 14 days
B2C mass market	0.8-1.5%	30-80 ₽	50-65%
B2B software, services	0.5-1.0%	80-250 ₽	65-80%
EdTech (online courses)	0.7-1.2%	60-180 ₽	55-70%
Financial services, investments	0.6-1.1%	100-300 ₽	60-75%
Narrow professional niches	0.4-0.8%	150-400 ₽	70-85%
MedTech (clinics)	0.6-1.0%	70-200 ₽	55-70%

Retention is the main indicator of traffic quality in TG Ads. If after 14 days there are less than 50% of subscribers left, either the creative is raising expectations or the channel content is weak.

6. Top 5 startup errors

1. Launch without landing on your own channel. TG Ads lead either to a channel or to a website. Website conversion is low (TG audience doesn’t like to leave). An audience is accumulating on your channel for long-term work. Do not launch TG Ads if there is no channel with at least 5-10 posts.

2. The test budget is too small. With 50-100 EUR you can’t understand anything. The minimum is 200-400 EUR for the first test in order to accumulate statistically significant data.

3. “Selling” creative. “Buy our product with a 30% discount” does not work in TG. Content creative works well: “3 mistakes in performance marketing, which I discussed in the post → read.”

4. Ignoring retention. I signed up - great, a week later I unsubscribed - they threw away the money. The channel content must match the promise of the creative.

5. Launch without UTM and pixel. If you are leading to a website, UTM tags are required, and so is the Telegram Ads pixel. Without this, ROAS cannot be considered and optimized.

For performance linking with other channels, see comparison of Yandex Direct and Google Ads, to distribute the TG budget - media plan template, to track conversions from TG - UTM scheme.

7. Conclusion

Telegram Ads in 2026 is a niche but powerful channel for brands with their own TG channel. The minimum budget is high (1500 EUR deposit + 200-400 EUR for the test), the entry threshold is more difficult than VK Ads or Yandex Direct. But the quality of the audience and retention are higher: on my 4 projects, TG subscribers brought in 35-50% more revenue per user than subscribers from VK Ads.

If you need help with launching TG Ads through an intermediary or selecting channels - Telegram, form. Consultation at the start - 0 ₽.