Telegram creator Pavel Durov said the messenger became profitable for the first time. By the end of 2024, the number of paid subscribers to the service exceeded 12 million and revenue amounted to more than $1 billion, according to the businessman’s Telegram channel.
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“For the first time in three years of monetization, Telegram has become profitable. This year, the number of Telegram Premium subscribers has tripled, exceeding 12 million. Our advertising revenue has also increased several times. As a result, Telegram’s total revenue in 2024 exceeded $1 billion and we ended the year with over $500 million in cash reserves, not counting cryptocurrency assets,” Durov wrote.
According to him, the company paid off in the fall a “significant portion” of debt obligations issued in the last four years for an amount of about $2 billion, but “there is still a lot of work ahead.”
Durov emphasized that Telegram’s experience in monetization, including mini-apps, stars, gifts, sweepstakes and a partner platform, demonstrates that social networks “can achieve financial sustainability while remaining independent and respecting user rights.”
In late November, the Financial Times, citing Telegram’s unaudited financial report, reported that the company’s revenue for the first half of 2024 was $525 million, up 190% from the same period last year. . The value of Telegram’s digital assets increased to $1.3 billion, up from $400 million at the end of 2023.
According to the Financial Times, almost half of the revenue ($225 million) came from a one-time deal with an anonymous party in which Telegram “received a reward” by making Toncoin the only payment method for small businesses. Pay for ads in the app. . The company also raised $353 million from the sale of digital assets from January to June and raised another $348 million from the sale of Toncoin since the beginning of the summer.
Advertising revenue during the first half of the year hit a record $120 million and subscription revenue rose to $119 million, almost four times the figure for the same period in 2023, the Financial Times noted.
In mid-December, Telegram began placing ads between posts in the channel’s feed. Previously, advertising posts appeared only at the end of the feed.
Author:
Timur Batyrov
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
