Telegram to share 50% of ad revenue through TON blockchain

Telegram will reward channel owners with an equal share of ad revenue starting in March, with payments made in Toncoin.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the private messaging giant would split ad revenue with broadcast channel creators to incentivize community building and in-app content sharing further.

In March, the Telegram Ad Platform will officially open to all advertisers in nearly a hundred new countries. Channel owners in these countries will start receiving 50% of any revenue that Telegram makes from displaying ads in their channels.

Pavel Durov, Telegram founder

Broadcast channels generate one trillion views per month, but only 10% of this traffic is monetized, according to Durov’s channel, which has 1.6 million subscribers. 

Durov also noted the TON blockchain will serve as the exclusive payment rail for ad revenue sharing. TON blockchain was confirmed by Certik as the fastest and most scalable blockchain in November, clocking over 104,000 transactions per second on a public live-streamed test.

TON blockchain is expected to facilitate quick and secure Toncoin (TON) payments for creators. TON jumped over 20% after the news was shared on Feb. 28, per CoinMarketCap data.

This will create a virtuous circle, in which content creators will be able to either cash out their Toncoins — or reinvest them in promoting and upgrading their channels

Pavel Durov, Telegram founder

Telegram is not the first social network to introduce an ad revenue-sharing scheme with active contributors. X also shares ad revenue with verified creators who meet impressions and content requirements, allowing users to benefit from their work. 

However, where Durov’s platform boasts a 50% split paid in cryptocurrency, Elon Musk’s app reportedly keeps the bulk of ad money and pays creators in fiat currency via Stripe.