Russia's Telegram Ad Market in 2026 in Numbers: ERIR, Mediascope, CPM and Our Archive#

In 2026 Telegram was slowed down in Russia and the FAS (Federal Antimonopoly Service) declared advertising in it illegal, then paused fines until year-end. The result: less money and audience, but more placements. A short version of our Russian-language summary.

Money: ERIR#

ERIR is Russia's unified register of online advertising. Per its data, passed by the regulator Roskomnadzor (RKN) to Vedomosti, Telegram took 7.9 billion ₽ in H1 2026, 22% less year on year; VKontakte 8.8 billion ₽ (+1%), the new Max messenger 1 billion ₽. June data are preliminary (Kommersant). ERIR only sees marked ads — mainly channel posts and the euro cabinet via resellers; unmarked Gram cabinet (formerly the TON cabinet) and Stars cabinet ads most likely are not counted.

Audience: Mediascope#

June 2026 monthly reach in Russia: Max 86.26M, Telegram 75.69M, WhatsApp 63.51M; daily: Max 69.03M, Telegram 35.41M (3DNews). SA Media put Telegram at about 94M monthly in March (ppc.world).

Prices: CPM down#

• SA Media, Jan → Aug 2026: CPM €1.64 → €0.97 (−41%), CPC €0.33 → €0.12 (−64%) (ppc.world).
• Magnetto, 150k+ campaigns, March–June: CPM €1.04 → €0.98, CTR 0.67% → 0.86%, CPC €0.16 → €0.12 (kod.ru).
• Minimum bids for Russian accounts: cut 30% to €0.70 on 17 February; from 28 August, per eLama, €0.6 (country/language), €0.3 (politics), €0.75 (channels, bots, search) (eLama). No official Telegram announcement.

Experts link the drop to large advertisers leaving after February (kod.ru).

Placements: more, but cheaper#

Dela PR and TGCast counted placements with ERID (Russia's mandatory ad token), March → June 2026: 388k → 511k (+32%), active advertisers +8% (7.2k). Channels with 1–5k subscribers grew from 6% to 14% of placements; 100k+ channels had 6.5% of placements but 39% of budgets; spend on 100–500k channels fell 25% (rb.ru).

What our archive shows#

We collect Telegram Ads sponsored messages in tracked channels; a classifier assigns the market the ad targets (not where it was shown). As of 23 September 2026 (API):

• 155,083 of 585,770 creatives (26.5%) target Russia — more than any other country.
• 90,796 (58.5%) are from the euro cabinet, 64,245 (41.4%) from the Gram cabinet.
• 79% of all euro cabinet creatives (90,796 of 114,818) target Russia — consistent with resellers selling it with marking, while Gram cabinet ads, according to practitioners, are not shown to Russian users. Caveat: our channel mix affects these shares; this is a slice of our archive, not all of Telegram.

New RU creatives by first appearance: July 2026 — 31,365; August — 26,755; 1–23 September — 37,102. These also depend on our collection coverage: a guide, not a market measure.

What it means for advertisers#

CPM and Russian minimum bids are below early-2026 levels, so the auction is less crowded. The risk has a date: the FAS moratorium runs to 31 December 2026 (see the FAS ban and moratorium). Small 1–5k channels, with higher engagement, take a growing share. Telegram's June daily reach in Russia was half that of Max.

FAQ#

Why does ERIR show a decline while placements grow? ERIR counts money in marked ads, TGCast counts placements with ERID: more placements on less money means a smaller average deal.

Are Gram-paid ads in these figures? Most likely not in ERIR (no marking in the Gram and Stars cabinets). Our archive counts the Gram cabinet separately.

Sources: Kommersant, 3DNews, ppc.world, kod.ru, eLama, rb.ru. Data: tgadsspy.com · License: CC BY 4.0