MTS, Russia's largest telecommunications company, recently unveiled plans to launch an advertising service aimed at targeting Russian users of the social messaging app Telegram. According to their announcement on October 17, the service would facilitate audience targeting based on specific channels, categories, interests, and geographic locations. MTS explicitly stated that the advertising service would focus on phone numbers associated with Russian mobile operators.
However, Telegram swiftly denied any involvement in the partnership. The company's spokesperson, Remi Vaughn, clarified that Telegram had not entered into any advertising-related agreements with Russian entities, including MTS. Vaughn did mention that these companies might have gained access to Telegram's advertising platform features through global advertising agencies the messaging app collaborates with. Still, he emphasized that no formal partnership or agreement existed between Telegram and MTS.
MTS provided further details on the advertising service, which aims to promote Telegram messages, groups, bots, and external links. This allows users to be directed to external websites and applications. MTS views this service as a way to transform Telegram into a high-performing tool that can reach 55 million Russian users daily.
Elena Melnikova, MTS Advertising Director, stated that the service's launch would enable clients to target Telegram users based on a wide range of external user data. Russian businesses and advertising agencies could utilize external data sources, such as MTS big data segments and their own CRM systems based on phone numbers, to serve ads within Telegram.
The service's notable feature is its lack of minimum budget thresholds, providing users the flexibility to create and serve ads with any budget. Small and medium-sized enterprises can send each message to their database at a fixed cost of 90 kopecks ($0.0092).
MTS emphasized that all ads published on Telegram Ads via its MTS Marketer service would adhere to Russian advertising laws. The telecommunications company serves over 80 million users through its Russian mobile business.
