The Telegram Ads auction is the mechanism that decides whose ad a user sees: all else being equal, the advertiser with the higher CPM bid — the price per 1,000 impressions — wins the impression. You set the bid yourself for each ad, and the volume of impressions you actually get also depends on the minimum bid, media markups, frequency and budget. Below is how it works and how to pick a starting bid without wasting your budget.
How the Telegram Ads auction works
Every time a user scrolls to the end of a public channel, opens a bot or searches in Telegram, the system picks one sponsored message from the ads eligible for that impression. The main factor is the CPM bid: the higher it is relative to competitors targeting the same audience, the more often the ad wins. According to eLama, a Russian reseller, it is a first-price auction: when you win, you pay your own bid, not the bid of the next competitor.
The auction runs separately for each audience. If impressions in one topic clear at €2 and in another at €7, a single €3 bid will only get impressions in the first one — an example given by Magnetto.pro specialists in an article on ppc.world. That is why one bid “for the whole campaign” is almost always inaccurate.
The bid is not the only factor. According to eLama’s observations, when bids are close the system may favor the ad with the larger budget, and frequency per user and time of day also change the effective price.
Minimum bids by account type
You cannot bid below the minimum threshold. Thresholds depend on the account, topic and targeting type and change from time to time:
| Account | Minimum CPM | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Euro (via a reseller) | about €0.7–1 for most topics | The threshold for specific channels, bots and search is usually higher than for topics and interests; lower for Politics & Incidents |
| TON (ads.telegram.org) | 0.1 TON | Telegram channels and bots only, channel targeting only |
| Stars | 50 Stars | Your own channel or bot only |
Sources give different numbers: the agency Kokoc cited a €0.7 minimum in May 2026, while several resellers cite about €1. In addition, according to Unisender on August 27, 2026, the minimum CPM for targeting a number of CIS countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and others) was cut to €0.15, for new campaigns only. Check the exact threshold for your ad in the account when you create it. More on currencies in paying in euros, TON and Stars.
Markups for media and emoji
An ad with an image or video is more noticeable, but it also costs more: its minimum bid goes up. According to Kokoc as of June 2026, the markups are:
| Element | Topic targeting | Channel targeting |
|---|---|---|
| Image | +50% | +80% |
| Video | +70% | +100% |
| Custom emoji in the text | +20% to the bid | |
In practice, with a base minimum of €1, a video ad targeting a list of channels will need a bid of at least €2. Media only pays off if it raises CTR more than it raises the cost per impression. Check this with an A/B test: the same text with and without media on the same audience. How to prepare the ads themselves is covered in Telegram Ads creatives.
Frequency
In the ad settings you set how many times per day one person can see the ad. Frequency affects both reach and price:
- 1–2 impressions per day is a sensible start for tests and cold audiences: the ad takes longer to wear out.
- Up to 4 impressions works for a narrow warm audience, such as subscribers of specific channels. According to agency data for 2026, CTR is higher at high frequency, but so is CPM.
Magnetto.pro specialists noted that a frequency of 2 holds results longer than 4, and that 2–3 different creatives at a moderate frequency work better than one ad shown many times. Frequency is set at the ad level, not the campaign level.
Budget and delivery pace
Budgets in Telegram Ads are also set per ad. A high bid with a small budget can spend out very quickly, while a bid that is too low may get no impressions at all. According to eLama, the algorithm tries to spread impressions across the day, but practitioners note that spend can be uneven, so watch delivery closely during the first few days.
A common problem is fragmentation. An article on ppc.world (June 2026) analyzed an account where a €7 daily budget was split across roughly 700 active ads — about €0.01 each. Most of them barely got any impressions. The author suggests a benchmark of at least €0.10 of daily budget per active ad and advises cutting the number of ads before touching bids.
How to choose a starting bid
It helps to start from unit economics: what is the highest price per 1,000 impressions you can afford? Formula: CPMmax = target cost per result × CTR × conversion rate × 1000. Example: target cost per subscriber €1, CTR 0.8%, click-to-subscription conversion 25%. That gives 1 × 0.008 × 0.25 × 1000 = €2. With these metrics, a bid above €2 will lose money. How to calculate CTR, cost per subscriber and payback is explained in Telegram Ads metrics.
Then the bid is tuned with one of two strategies described by eLama (February 2026):
- “Ladder”. Start at the minimum bid for your targeting type and leave it for 2–4 hours. If impressions are low, raise it by 10–20% per step until you reach a steady 50–100 impressions per hour. Tuning can take 2–3 days.
- “Skimming”. For a quick test, start with a bid 2–3 times higher than the niche average, then lower it by 10–20% every few hours until impression volume starts to drop. This is faster but more expensive.
Don’t exceed your calculated CPMmax in either strategy: if there are no impressions at that bid, the problem is not the bid but the audience or the economics of the offer.
How to adjust bids
The main mistake is erratic changes, for example €2 → €0.8 → €5 within two days: the algorithm has no time to adapt, and you can’t tell what worked. Change the bid in steps of 10–20% and keep each new value for at least a day.
| Symptom | What to do |
|---|---|
| No impressions or very few | Raise the bid by 10–20%, check the budget per ad and the number of active ads |
| Impressions, but low CTR | Change the text and media, not the bid |
| Budget spends fast, cost per subscriber above target | Lower the bid or frequency, switch off weak channels |
| Impressions dropped sharply without any changes on your side | Competitors have probably raised bids: decide whether the increase still fits your CPMmax |
It is convenient to manage bids by channel or channel group: strong placements can justify a higher CPM, weak ones can be lowered or switched off. With many ads, automation services with a bidder help, such as Adstat.pro or TgBooster — see reviews in our services section. Other ways to bring costs down are in how to lower cost per click.
FAQ
How does the Telegram Ads auction work?
Advertisers set a bid per 1,000 impressions, and all else being equal the ad with the higher bid wins the impression. The auction runs separately for each audience, so the price of an impression differs between topics and channels.
What is the minimum bid in Telegram Ads?
In a euro account it is about €0.7–1 per 1,000 impressions for most topics, 0.1 TON in a TON account and 50 Stars in a Stars account. Thresholds depend on targeting type and geography and change periodically.
Why is my ad not getting impressions?
Most often the bid is lower than competitors’ bids for the chosen audience, the ad’s budget is too small, or the budget is split across dozens of ads. Also check whether your targeting is too narrow.
How much more does an ad with an image or video cost?
According to Kokoc as of June 2026, an image raises the bid by 50% with topic targeting and by 80% with channel targeting; video by 70% and 100%. A custom emoji adds 20%.
How often can I change the bid?
Practitioners recommend keeping a new bid for anywhere from a few hours to a day and changing it in 10–20% steps. Sharp jumps make it hard to see what affected the result.
What frequency should I choose?
For tests and cold audiences, 1–2 impressions per person per day. For a narrow warm audience you can go up to 4, but CPM is usually higher.
