Online messaging application Telegram has announced the launch of its ad platform, which was built on The Open Network (TON) blockchain.
Starting in March, Telegram channel owners in over 100 countries can start receiving financial rewards for their work after the ad platform opens for all advertisers. Channel owners will start receiving 50% of the total advertising revenue generated by Telegram from displaying ads in their channels, according to an announcement on Feb. 28 by Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram.
Telegram Ad Platform will exclusively use the TON blockchain to make payments, according to the announcement.
“Similar to our approach with Telegram usernames on Fragment, we will sell ads and share revenue with channel owners in Toncoin. 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,” Durov said.
The TON blockchain’s TON coin rose 13.86% in the 24 hours leading up to 12:40 PM UTC, to trade at $2.49. The coin is up over 14% during the past week. TON sits at an $8.6 billion market capitalization as the 15th largest cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap.
Broadcast channels on Telegram generate over 1 trillion monthly views, but only around 10% of these views are monetized via Telegram Ads, a privacy-focused promotional tool.
Telegram is the fourth most popular online messaging application worldwide, following WhatsApp, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger. Telegram has around 196 million daily active users and 800 million monthly active users, according to data from Bankmycell.
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Interest in the TON blockchain continues to grow. Last November, Animoca Brands announced that it would become the largest validator on the TON blockchain and aims to build blockchain-based games on Telegram.
Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph, at the Next Block Expo event in Berlin, Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu confirmed that the validator agreement involved the purchase of an undisclosed amount of Toncoin, which was staked by the firm. Siu told Cointelegraph:
“We actually think that’s a tool for mass onboarding with TON wallet. There are 800 million users on Telegram using TON. What’s not to be excited about?”
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