Throughout its existence, the gaming industry has evolved in many different formats. Video games have progressed from bulky arcade machines to compact smartphones.
The advent of Telegram has allowed mobile gaming to transition from online stores directly into the messenger. While there are plenty of users (and they are actively playing), there are challenges with monetization. Mini app creators struggle to profit from traffic (aside from in-game purchases). To solve this issue, a recently launched advertising platform, AdsGram, was created. Its creators received a $50,000 grant from the TON Foundation. Let’s take a closer look at it.
A new stage in the gaming industry: Telegram Mini Apps
Telegram has become much more than just a messenger. Today, it is a whole ecosystem for communication, business, education, and entertainment. The ability to connect custom-built applications has given rise to Telegram Mini Apps. These are apps and mobile games based on chatbots, adapted to Telegram’s functionality and capabilities.
In fact, they are already gaining popularity. According to forecasts by Grand View Research, by the end of 2024, almost 50% of Russian companies will use bots on a regular basis, making games (and business gamification) highly in demand.
The Telegram mini-app ecosystem includes various “apps” — websites, online stores, quizzes, and many others, but the gaming sector is considered the leader. Users have already been captivated by hits like Fanton, Tap Fantasy, Egg Fight Club, and others.
Most Telegram games support TON and Web3 technologies, which allow developers to:
— Grow their own gaming community in Telegram;
— Monetize NFTs;
— Create in-game tokens;
— Accept cryptocurrency payments;
— Integrate decentralized finance (DeFi) methods;
— Use a Web3 interface.
Benefits of Telegram Mini Apps
Telegram Mini Apps offer developers the opportunity to create convenient, cross-platform, and interactive applications that greatly enhance the user experience in Telegram.
— Cross-platform compatibility: Games (and other apps) are immediately adapted for Android, iOS, PC, Mac, and Linux. This ensures a seamless experience for users regardless of their device.
— Interactive and automated experience: A simple and user-friendly way for users to interact with various services and features directly within the messenger.
— Real-time user input: Mini Apps can respond to user actions in real-time, providing a personalized experience.
— Facilitation of dynamic in-app interactions: Developers can create apps that utilize notifications, chats, channels, and other messenger features to provide more dynamic and interactive engagement with users.
Examples of popular games in Telegram Mini Apps:
— Catizen: A Play-to-Earn (P2E) game based on the TON and MANTLE blockchains, where users can earn tokens by breeding virtual cats. MAU (Monthly Active Users): 8.9 million.
— Tap Fantasy: A Play-to-Earn game released in November 2023, where the in-game currency is coins on Sol and BSC, which can be earned by completing in-game tasks. The app’s audience exceeds 700,000 users, with a MAU of 66,000.
— Play Corn Battles: Released in June 2024, it has already gathered over 3 million users. It’s a multiplayer strategy game where each player builds their unique team of corn heroes to battle others. Each corn is an NFT that can be sold, traded, or gifted to other players.
The current market situation:
— There is a convenient platform for creating games and apps — Telegram
— There is a massive audience — 950 million active users worldwide on Telegram by 2024
— There is support for crypto and Web3 technologies
— There are hundreds of teams and investors interested in development
But there are no ways to monetize all of this.
You create a game, launch it, and can only earn from in-game items or currency. This is a colossal loss of potential profit and demotivation for developers.
Monetization platform for Telegram Mini Apps — AdsGram
AdsGram is the first platform that allows the monetization of traffic in Telegram Mini Apps by displaying ads. The creators understand developers’ challenges and see enormous potential in this area.
The idea came about when Telegram introduced monetization for channel authors, who can earn up to 50% of ad revenue. However, bot owners and game developers don’t have this opportunity, and I felt this pain as the founder of one of the largest Telegram games on TON. With a team of eight people, we built an advertising platform from scratch in just three months — something that typically takes teams of ten people years to do. — Vadim Kostomarov-Sterlin founder AdsGram and co-founder Fanton.
Who is AdsGram for?
The platform is designed for game developers and any Telegram Mini Apps with traffic from Russia, the CIS, and other countries. There is already a rich international inventory for working with Southeast Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Hong Kong.
Currently, AdsGram is actively collaborating with 150 games, and the number of new partners is growing — both game projects and advertisers.
How AdsGram works
AdsGram is a classic advertising engine that displays creatives based on the principles of traditional ad systems.
Advertisers have access to two dashboards where they can upload their videos and set prices depending on the auction. The base currency of the system is TON. Additionally, there are several targeting options:
— Whether the user has a Premium subscription;
— Device type;
— Platform (iOS / Android);
— Geo;
— Language;
— Wallet presence (in development).
Advertisers can set Reach Frequency for campaigns. Currently, billing is based on impressions, but once enough data is gathered, developers will add pay-per-click options.
Ads can be shown as static banners or video banners. In the latter case, a video of up to 15 seconds is split into several stages:
1. The video itself is displayed.
2. A call-to-action button appears on the video.
3. A close button appears on the video.
4. A final page with a headline, text, and image is shown. After two seconds, a close option appears on the last screen.
Metrics already confirm the platform’s effectiveness — video format CTR averages 6%, while static format CTR averages 10%. AdsGram offers a range of metrics, including CPM, CPC, CTR, conversions, and fill rate.
The future of AdsGram
AdsGram already provides an impressive array of tools for advertisers, but the project is not stopping there.
The creators promise that more powerful tools will be added in the coming months. Some of them include:
— Channel subscription, which will bring in massive amounts of low-cost traffic to the entire Telegram and TON ecosystem.
— Targeting whether a user is authorized with a wallet or not; whether they have a balance.
— Targeting based on interactions with specific contracts, such as the smart contract of the Dexa exchange. This will allow DeFi products to be sold and targeted at Web3 users.
— The introduction of cost-per-click, in addition to cost-per-impression.
Opportunities with Telegram Mini Apps and AdsGram
Games in Telegram are already a significant trend. Developers of decentralized gaming apps based on blockchain technology are increasingly looking towards creating their own Telegram Mini Apps.
A bright example is Fanton Fantasy Football. The app allows players to participate in free tournaments for major football matches worldwide and win prizes in the form of Toncoin and NFT cards.
For over a decade, Telegram has been a popular community and platform for crypto enthusiasts. With the advent of mini-apps, Web3 projects — GameFi, DeFi, decentralized exchanges (DEX), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO), and NFT projects — can present a dynamic interactive ecosystem.
AdsGram has the potential to connect developers with end users. It is a powerful solution that can radically transform the advertising landscape of Telegram Mini Apps and Telegram.
