Telegram Mini Apps have quickly grown into a major independent traffic source: users spin slots, play games and use services directly inside the messenger without switching to browsers. For traffic arbitrage, this is an opportunity to get large volumes of traffic through a native funnel without strict moderation.
You cannot buy advertising inside third-party mini apps through the official Telegram Ads platform — this entire market is dominated by third-party advertising networks. However, entering these networks and simply clicking the «Launch» button is risky for your budget: if you do not configure placement filtering from the start, money will quickly be wasted on irrelevant traffic from gaming apps, where people click on everything just to get free bonuses.
In this article, we will explain how traffic buying works in TMA, compare advertising networks, show working formats for gambling and crypto, and explain how to filter out audiences that are unlikely to pay.
Where traffic comes from: games vs. utility mini apps
All traffic inside Telegram Mini Apps is divided into two types. If you do not understand the difference between them and launch the same creative on both — you can waste your entire budget.
Games
Casual games generate large volumes — millions of impressions per day at minimal prices. But advertising inside such apps is divided into two formats:
Incentivized traffic
This is advertising in exchange for an in-game reward: «watch a video and restore energy», «subscribe to a sponsor and receive an in-game item».
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Where the budget gets wasted: The user clicks only for the in-game bonus. They are not interested in your offer and do not even read the text on the screen. In the tracker, you will see an extremely high CTR and cheap clicks, but the affiliate network will show zero results: no registrations, let alone deposits.
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What it is suitable for: Only for building a cheap audience base. Here, you can attract people to a Telegram channel or chatbot for next to nothing, then warm them up with posts.
Non-incentivized traffic
The ad appears automatically when launching a game or switching between sections.
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How it works: The player does not receive bonuses for viewing, so they click intentionally if the creative catches their attention.
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What it is suitable for: This is the main working placement for gambling and betting. However, the audience here is young, so it is essential to set impression limits and filter out users who are unlikely to pay.
Utility mini apps
These include non-custodial wallets, DEX exchanges, price trackers, subscription services and various Web3 utilities.
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Who uses them: Adults who are technically knowledgeable. They open the app for a specific purpose: to buy or exchange crypto, check a balance, renew a subscription or use a tool.
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How ads are displayed: The user sees a clean banner, a native push notification over the interface or a full-screen creative during transaction confirmation.
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What is the catch: Impression volumes are lower here than in games, while CPM bids in the auction are noticeably higher — crypto exchanges and fintech companies actively compete for this audience.
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What it is suitable for: An ideal traffic source for crypto, trading, investments and crypto casinos. These users already have money, connected wallets and an understanding of how to make deposits.
Where to buy traffic: Adsgram, RichAds and OnClickA overview
Since Telegram itself does not have a built-in advertising dashboard for displaying ads inside apps, all this traffic is purchased through advertising networks. They work like traditional ad exchanges: developers connect their apps to them, while media buyers purchase impressions through a familiar dashboard.
There are several major platforms on the market. Currently, most TMA traffic volume comes through these three networks:
1. Adsgram
A specialized advertising network created specifically for Telegram Mini Apps with the support of the TON Foundation.
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How the dashboard works: An extremely simple interface originally designed for Telegram and Web3. The balance is topped up in cryptocurrency (USDT and TON), and there is practically no minimum deposit requirement — you can test a setup with just $20–50.
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Formats:
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Rewarded Video — videos in exchange for in-game rewards (for attracting subscribers to channels);
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Interstitial — full-screen static banners displayed during transitions (the main format for offers);
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Inline banners — ad blocks inside app interfaces.
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Targeting: GEO selection, messenger language, device type and filtering by users with Telegram Premium.
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What to use it for: Ideal for crypto, token presales, Web3 games and building a subscriber base for channels.
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Disadvantage: No automatic optimization. The system cannot automatically disable impressions when there are no conversions, so ineffective placements must be filtered out manually.
2. RichAds
A large international advertising network that was among the first to provide access to traffic from Telegram Mini Apps.
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How the interface works: A traditional advertising dashboard with all the familiar traffic arbitrage tools. It includes tracking, automatic bid optimization, microbidding and blacklists. The minimum deposit for getting started independently — is $150. It accepts cards, Capitalist and crypto. With a deposit of $500 or more, you get a personal manager who can provide ready-made placement whitelists for a specific offer.
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Formats:
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Push-style — a native pop-up notification inside the app with an icon and text (looks like a Telegram message and generates a high CTR);
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Interstitial — full-screen banners and videos;
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Banners inside the app.
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Targeting: GEO (more than 220 countries), OS, language, Telegram Premium, as well as a unique feature — targeting users with a positive Telegram wallet balance.
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What to use it for: Gambling, betting and finance.
3. OnClickA
An international performance advertising network that offers ad buying in Telegram Mini Apps.
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How the dashboard works: A convenient platform with a low entry barrier — the minimum deposit is $75. It accepts cards, Capitalist, Paxum and cryptocurrency. It has advanced microbidding — you can precisely increase or decrease bids for individual apps directly within a campaign.
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Formats:
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Interstitial (banners and videos);
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Rewarded formats;
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Classic banners and Direct Link.
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Payment models: CPM and CPC. When a postback from the tracker is connected, CPA optimization becomes available.
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Targeting: GEO, OS, mobile/desktop devices, language, users with a Premium subscription and wallet balance.
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What to use it for: Quick tests with a small budget, iGaming and utilities.
Independent networks such as RichAds and OnClickA allow gambling and crypto campaigns under their rules, but this depends on the specific GEO and offer conditions. Launching campaigns here is technically easier than on other social networks, but heavily misleading creatives or violations of local laws will still lead to campaign rejection. At the same time, ads will run only in mini apps whose owners have allowed such offers to be advertised.
Advertising formats for gambling and crypto
Gambling and betting
Non-incentivized formats, where clicks are not tied to rewards, are suitable for these verticals:
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Interstitial (full-screen banner or short video).
The ad covers the screen when switching between sections or launching a game. There are no rewards for viewing, so clicks come from interested users. A short video (3–5 seconds) showing a big slot win or a genuine reaction to winning generates a higher CTR than a static banner, but video impressions cost more. -
Push-style (native notification).
A pop-up notification over the mini app interface that visually imitates an incoming Telegram message (icon, headline and a couple of lines of text). This format is better at overcoming banner blindness. Short messages with deadlines work well: «You have received 150 FS. Activate within 2 hours». -
Why Rewarded and Tasks are excluded: Conversion from reward-based impressions into direct deposits is usually minimal. Users tap the screen for an in-game item, so sending incentivized traffic directly to gambling without a complex funnel carries a high risk of wasting the budget.
Working funnel for gambling and betting:
Banner in the app → Interactive pre-landing page in WebApp (wheel of fortune / bonus chest / free bet on a match) → Product's Telegram bot or Telegram casino. The user claims a bonus or free bet directly in Telegram and moves to the product without feeling that they have been redirected to an external website.
Crypto and Web3
In crypto, the Telegram audience is fairly warmed up, but people are afraid of losing money to yet another scam.
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Push-style in utility apps.
The main format for high-value offers (presales, investments, trading, DEX). It is shown in wallets and analytics services to people who already own crypto and understand how to use it. -
Interstitial in games.
Full-screen static ads with a simple, clear offer for installing crypto apps or moving to trading bots. -
Where incentivized traffic works:
The only case where buying incentivized traffic in games is justified — is building an audience for a project's Telegram channel before a token listing. Tasks such as «subscribe to the channel for 10,000 coins» help build an initial subscriber base for next to nothing to create the appearance of activity. However, this traffic does not generate direct deposits or token purchases.
Working funnel for crypto and Web3:
Even an interested user will not immediately connect their wallet to an unknown website. They need guarantees, so the traffic is warmed up further:
Push-style / Interstitial → Project's Telegram channel or bot → Series of posts with proof and reviews → Link to the target action (token purchase, presale participation or deposit).
The general rule for gambling and crypto is the same: do not try to pull the user out of the messenger onto external websites. Traffic from TMA converts best when the entire funnel — from the click to the deposit or wallet connection — takes place inside Telegram itself.
Auction rates and filters: how to avoid wasting budget on bots
The profitability of a setup depends on exactly who sees the ad. Without controlling auction bids and precisely filtering out accounts that are unlikely to pay, the budget can quickly be wasted in gaming apps.
CPM rates: how much traffic costs
Each network has its own payment models and auctions for each GEO, but the current working CPM ranges are approximately as follows:
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Incentivized traffic (Tier-3 countries, gaming quests): from $0.05 to $0.30 per 1,000 impressions. Purchased in large volumes, but conversion into deposits is close to zero.
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High-quality Interstitial (CIS, LatAm, Tier-2): from $1.50 to $2.50 per 1,000 impressions. This is the baseline CPM currently used for most gambling and betting traffic campaigns.
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Video Interstitial and Tier-1 GEOs: from $3.00 to $7.00. Video delivers the highest CTR but consumes the testing budget the fastest.
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Push-style: most often purchased on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis, starting at $0.015 to $0.02. For crypto and Tier-1, the bid is usually increased to $0.05–$0.10 to win auctions against major brands and crypto exchanges.
If you launch a campaign targeting a broad audience with a basic bid, the network's algorithm will simply spend your money on bot farms and schoolchildren. Two strict filters are used to reach real leads with money.
1. Targeting Telegram Premium
The main risk when buying traffic in TMA — is bot traffic and fraud. Bot farm operators are interested only in referral bonuses from Web3 projects, while their software also clicks through your advertising budget in the background.
Targeting with the «Premium accounts only» checkbox helps reduce this risk. The logic is simple: farm owners cannot justify buying paid subscriptions for a network of accounts, while freebie seekers who click ads for bonuses also use basic plans.
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What this delivers in practice: You pay more for CPM (auction bids for Premium users can increase by 1.5–2 times), but filter out most basic bots. This does not guarantee 100% ability to pay, but it noticeably improves audience quality.
2. Targeting users with a positive crypto wallet balance
This is a useful feature currently available in RichAds and OnClickA dashboards (labeled «Wallet Activity» or «Positive TON Wallet balance» in the filters).
In the advertising dashboard settings, you can target an audience with a recorded balance in the built-in wallet. You can configure ads to be shown only to users who currently have cryptocurrency in their balance.
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Why it works for crypto: You show an ad for a token presale or DEX exchange to someone who does not need an explanation of how to buy USDT. They already understand the market and have available funds in their balance.
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Why it works for gambling: Having cryptocurrency does not mean that a user will definitely make a casino deposit, but it is a useful filter: it increases the likelihood that you are reaching a real user with assets rather than an empty account.
The approach to campaign settings depends on the offer. Strict filters and high CPM rates eliminate irrelevant traffic and bring high-quality leads with money. Broad campaigns with minimum bids help generate huge volumes of cheap traffic for mass-market tasks.
Conclusion
Telegram Mini Apps — are an excellent alternative to traditional traffic sources. The main advantage — is that you can legally advertise complex niches here without ad account bans. Yes, there is a problem with bots, but basic filters can solve it. If you build the entire funnel inside the messenger and monitor placement quality, TMA will become a stable source of targeted leads.
