[Updated] Telegram reportedly looking for advertisers to reinforce its rapid expansion

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…

Original story (published on March 16, 2021) follows:

Founded way back in 2013, Telegram currently has approximately 550 million active users across the globe.

However, the messenger app, even though flourishing in terms of user base, has been in some serious debt for quite some time.

As per a report from The Wall Street Journal, the instant messaging service owes about $700 million to its creditors but Telegram founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, has some plans to even things out.

Android and iOS users may get to see ad-units in several public channels across the messenger app by year-end, as per Mr. Durov.

Also, there are plans to offer premium services to users and businesses in order to keep it all from falling apart.

While selling ads is indeed a good strategy, an instant messaging service might not be an ideal platform.

This is simply due to the fact that it might be tough to put targeted advertisements in encrypted private chats or even public channels.

Nevertheless, a representative has assured that advertisers will provide ads as per specific channels or by choosing from trending topics.

It is safe to assume that even the most popular messaging apps do not always perform well when it comes to meaningful revenue generation.

Some great examples of this can be Signal, which practically runs on donations, Discord, and even WhatsApp.

Nevertheless, only time will tell how Telegram is going to implement the aforementioned features without spoiling the user experience.

That said, we will keep tracking this for further development and will provide more details once new information becomes available.

In the meantime, you can check out our dedicated Android and iOS sections to get the latest updates on related topics.

IST 08:28 pm: Pavel Durov, CEO at Telegram, recently announced on his Telegram channel that the instant messaging platform has generated $1 billion by selling debts.

Also, Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners and Mubadala Investment Company have announced an investment of $75 million each in Telegram. These announcements may very well be related to Telegram’s plan to support its constant expansion by selling ads and premium services by year-end.

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