How Does Telegram Make Money: Easy Guide for Beginners 2022 [Video]

Telegram was launched in 2013 and currently has over 500 million active users, all using the messaging app for free. So how does Telegram make money?

This question is worth reflecting on, considering how Telegram has continued to grow over the past few years and hasn’t shown any signs of folding up like other platforms in the past.

In today’s reality, and for good reasons too, for a platform to be considered by users, it needs to provide encrypted end-to-end communication and guarantee solid security and privacy for both users and their data.

In this regard, Telegram has performed exceptionally well and is even said to be better at it than WhatsApp.

Telegram is now thought of as the next best alternative to WhatsApp. But unlike WhatsApp with its many avenues of making money, Telegram doesn’t seem to have any yet, begging the question, how does Telegram make money.

Today, we will discuss this issue and how you can make money from this application.

How Does Telegram Make Money?

How Does Telegram Make Money
How Does Telegram Make Money

The sad truth is that Telegram is a free messaging application that doesn’t make any money but runs on donations instead.

The Russian founders, who are also brothers Pavel Durov and Nikolai Durov, came up with the idea of a fast and secure messaging application that is 100% free and have kept it that way since 2013.

As the company grew, it needed to incur more servers and handle the growing traffic also grew. The need to earn became eminent, and Telegram came up with plans to launch their blockchain and a payment system in this regard in 2019.

However, this move was halted by SEC just before launch. And since then, Telegram has continued to run only on donations, supports, and personal funds of the founding brothers.

This is one thing that sets Telegram from the other popular messaging apps. And while you can perform other basic operations common with other messaging media such as chatting with other users, creating groups, making audio and video calls with your contacts, sending files, there are countless other differences between this application and others, including the following:

Business Model

Telegram’s whole business model is designed to look different from other messaging platforms. The first illustration is seen in the decision never to sell the company as announced from the onset by the founders.

Telegram also aims for greater privacy, and this has made it increasingly popular. Unlike other platforms, Telegram has shown that leaders of nations cannot obtain users’ data (except they are terrorists) or control the online conversations of their citizens.

While this has put the company in trouble with different governments, including the Russian government, it has also shown a resounding business model, which is evident in how the company grew from 35 million users in 2014 to over 500 users last year.

Data Encryption and Secrecy

Telegram is undoubtedly the most encrypted platform in the world right now. It combines AES and RSA to provide a powerful type of encryption that makes chatting messaging secure.

We all know how it is no longer a secret that the location of Telegram servers is a well-guided secret that gives users peace of mind knowing that, come what may; their data will always be protected.

Storage

Over the years, there have been some concerns over how data is stored. Media that allows you to store your data and back them up on your devices worked well until Cloud Storage was invented.

Cloud Storage entails simply moving any data to the Cloud and accessing it on any device connected to the same Cloud.

Telegram works on this principle and has been using it for a while now. Users can store their data this way and later access them from any other device. And this becomes even more exciting when you consider how it eliminates the need for data backup.

File Size and Type

Telegram allows for the largest transfer of data and files of all the popular social media and messaging platforms.

You can exchange files of up to 2GB with your friends, a feat that is absent in other platforms. You can also download various material sizes from different channels, even up to 2GB.

And because it allows for Cloud Storage, you can do these heavy downloads without storing them on your device. You only need to download and then stream from Cloud without taking up space on your device.

This is also not a common feature with other messaging applications.

Additionally, you can find, download or share any type or format of a file, including 4k media. Just imagine being able to do all of these on the same platform that you use in communicating with your friends.

Data Quality and Payment Exchange

Another distinction that sets Telegram apart and would have sufficed as an answer to how does Telegram make money is the quality of data that can be sent through it.

While other platforms such as WhatsApp drastically reduce the quality of the file before sending or sharing, Telegram strives to maintain the same quality of the media.

When a file is first compressed before it is sent, it risks losing some of its details. But because files are sent uncompressed via Telegram, they usually retain all their qualities and details.

In addition, businesses can be easily carried out on Telegram with secure payment methods. These payment options are so secure that people now prefer to use the platform for sending and receiving transfers.

Communication Options

For years, Telegram has worked towards delivering different options for how messages are passed across on the platform.

Communication methods on Telegram can be broadly classified into two options; private and public. Private chats are usually done by two individuals sending messages back and forth. And the chats are often secure through the end-to-end encryption discussed above.

The public option usually involves more than two people and can often occur in the form of a group or channel.

A Telegram group is a place where you can add people from your contact list or send out links for anyone not on your contact list to join. Each group can house up to 200,000 participants.

Channels are similar to groups but are not for discussions. The power to type is left only in the hands of the Channel admin and bot. a channel can be used to share media that other participants can download.

Telegram bots are third-party software allowed by Telegram to make work easy on both groups and channels. They are AI tools that can send messages, teach, drop reminders, search for things, conduct polls, or even ban participants.

Naturally, anyone would expect all the above features to constitute a solid answer to the query of how does Telegram make money. Still, we have seen Telegram not using any of these to make money so far.

However, there are plans to roll out several monetization strategies this 2022. When and how this will be done remains to be seen. But the why is clear to all; no major platform like Telegram can survive without money when making money is often the main objective of messaging applications and social media in general.

What Is Telegrams Net Worth?

How Does Telegram Make Money
How Does Telegram Make Money

Because no one, including Telegram, can provide a satisfying answer to how does Telegram make money, it is tempting to ask what the net worth of this company currently is.

This free messaging platform has helped grow the net worth of its CEO from $260 million to $17.2 billion as of Oct 19 last year.

Therefore, it is interesting to see what the net worth will become after Telegram kick-starts its many monetizing strategies, including advertisements.

However, unlike what is currently in the world of advertising, Telegram promises that its advertising would neither be micro-targeted nor will it use users’ sensitive data.

Why Is Telegram So Popular?

How Does Telegram Make Money
How Does Telegram Make Money

Telegram is popular because it has unique attributes that differentiate it from its competition, most notably, privacy and security.

And every time one of its rivals, namely WhatsApp, goes under severe scrutiny for breaching security and user data, Telegram enjoys another influx of users.

For instance, when the story broke last year about WhatsApp breach of privacy and security in October of last year, Telegram received a surge of about 70 million users in one day.

While it hasn’t dethroned WhatsApp in popularity and may not be achieving the feat in the nearest future, it is good to know that many users globally consider it a suitable and more trustworthy alternative.

How to Make Money on Telegram

How Does Telegram Make Money
How Does Telegram Make Money

Behind the question “how does Telegram make money” is another question, “how do I make money from Telegram?”

And seeing that Telegram services are free and the medium of messaging does not profit from its users, is it possible for its users to make some money from being on the platform.

The simple answer is yes. You can make money on Telegram, and we are going to show you some of the best ways to do this.

The first step to making money on Telegram is creating and growing a channel (with a complimenting group if you intend to have engagements). The steps to creating a channel are simple, and anyone can do it for free.

Once the channel is set up and running smoothly, you can use one or a combination of the following methods to earn on Telegram.

Selling Ads and Promotion

Telegram itself has no provisions for advertisement even as these words are being written. However, its over 500 million active users indicate a very ripe market for all kinds of products and services.

Since marketers cannot advertise directly through Telegram, channels have been a very effective marketing means.

The sheer fact that a channel can have unlimited users indicates that more people will see the advertised products and services at any given time.

You can take advantage of all these and sell ads and promotions. This way, brands can pay you to place their products and services on your channel.

This is easy as you often do not have to do anything besides post what you are given and as often as you agree. The bigger the audience, the more money you stand to make.

Selling Your Products

Instead of selling for others, you may try to sell your products or services if you have those. For instance, you can create valuable educational content and charge people some fee to join your channel.

Also, you can write about ideas and professional experiences and share them with your channel while charging outsiders some fee to belong to your community.

You can also sell courses, consultations, and books on your channel by first advertising on other social media platforms.

Affiliate Marketing

Most people who own channels with huge followings but have no products or services to sell often focus on affiliate programs.

An affiliate program involves selling products and services that are on large marketplaces such as Amazon.

Members of the channels can use your link to buy, after which you earn a commission for each product sold.

Selling Bots and Stickers

This is often for the creative and those with a little programming experience but can also be done by those smart enough to use hired labor.

So whether you are making them yourself or having someone else make them for you, you can easily sell stickers which are a major part of what makes communications on Telegram very interesting.

In the same way, you can sell Telegram bots that meet various needs and rake in a steady chunk of income from doing this frequently. People will always need bots for several reasons, and satisfying these needs can earn you a lot of money.

Conclusion

How does Telegram make money is something anyone should wonder about considering the company’s decision not to sell ads or users’ data.

Hence, Telegram has accrued zero revenue from monetizing its products or services. However, this should not stop you from the numerous opportunities to make money, as discussed in this guide.