For the longest time ever since it launched, Telegram has remained free to use. The app boasts about 500 million users to date, which means that it has a very large platform should they choose to monetize it, and it looks like they will finally be doing that and it will be coming in the form of ads.
No, before you start worrying about ads showing up in your chats, that’s not where the ads will show up. Instead, ads will be coming to Telegram’s Channels starting in 2021. For those unfamiliar, Channels are kind of like a feed of sorts, similar to Twitter. If you use Telegram mainly as a messaging app, then this probably won’t affect you too much.
In fact, according to Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov, “All the features that are currently free will stay free. We will add some new features for business teams or power users. Some of these features will require more resources and will be paid for by these premium users. Regular users will be able to keep enjoying Telegram – for free, forever.”
Durov believes that Telegram’s implementation of ads won’t be intrusive and that for the most part, users won’t notice the changes. He also notes that some ideas the company has also includes premium stickers, where artists can create and sell them to Telegram users and get a cut of the proceeds.