Telegram Ads Placement Targeting: 9,765 Bot Starts for a Mini App

Telegram Ads can fill a Mini App with the wrong users just as fast as the right ones. For UDS Wheel of Fortune, we skipped broad interest targeting and built the campaign around hand-picked placements in gaming bots and crypto trading channels. The result: 9,765 bot starts from approximately 15,000 USDT in media spend, at an average cost per bot start of ~1.54 USDT.

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Project Goals

1. Reach Telegram-native users without paying for broad reach

By choosing placements, not audiences. We targeted specific bots and channels where users were already active in Telegram-native games, Web3 products, and wallets, instead of relying on interest-based targeting parameters.

2. Turn an ad view into a bot start

By advertising where the Launch bot action is already familiar. Users of Telegram Mini Apps are used to bot-based mechanics and rewards, which reduces friction between seeing the ad and opening UDS Wheel of Fortune.

3. Extend reach beyond gaming without losing intent

By adding a second audience layer: active crypto and trading communities that regularly discover new products and tools directly inside Telegram.

4. Keep the cost per bot start efficient at scale?

By concentrating ad budget on audiences most likely to open and interact with the bot, rather than buying low-intent impressions.

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🚀 Telegram Marketing Strategy: Placement Targeting Instead of Broad Interests

We ran the entire campaign on Telegram Ads placement targeting, selecting 35+ bots and channels by hand to reach users directly inside the places where they were already active. This approach replaces broad interest targeting with direct control over where each ad appears on the Telegram Ads platform.

❗ The main idea?
Two audience layers beat one broad audience. Telegram-native users click Launch bot by habit. Crypto and trading audiences discover new products inside Telegram every day. Placement targeting lets you buy both directly, without paying for everyone in between.

Every ad budget spent on broad reach is budget not spent where users already tap Launch. Placement targeting gave us the opposite: a short list of destinations, each chosen for audience fit.

1. Advertising on Telegram Inside Gaming and Web3 Bots

We placed ads in Telegram bots focused on gaming, Mini Apps, and Web3 products, because these users already know how bot-based rewards and interactive mechanics work. That familiarity is what shortens the path from ad click to bot start.

Placements spanned Telegram-native games, wallets, and TON ecosystem products. The table below shows a representative sample of the bot placements used:

Bot placement	Segment
Catizen	Telegram Mini App game
Boinkers	Telegram Mini App game
Gamee	Telegram gaming platform
PlayDeck	Mini App gaming hub
TONPlayCenter	TON gaming
SEED App	Telegram Mini App
Spell Wallet	Web3 wallet

Across the campaign, 22 bot placements were named in the media plan, with additional bots beyond this sample. They covered Mini App games, Web3 wallets, and reward-driven products such as Piggy Bank, Crypto Donut, DRFT Party, League of Llamas, and SlotCoin.

Bot placements delivered an audience that already behaved like our target user: opening Mini Apps, collecting rewards, and tapping Launch bot. This segment was the core of the campaign.

2. Crypto Telegram Marketing Through Trading Channels

We used Telegram channel placements to expand reach among active crypto, forex, and gold trading communities. Each telegram channel in this layer is followed by users who regularly discover new products, tools, and interactive mechanics directly inside Telegram.

The table below lists a representative sample of the channel placements:

Channel placement	Community focus
NTrade | Market Insights	Market insights
COCO Trading	Crypto and trading
Modern Crypto Calls	Crypto trading calls
BTCUSD GOLD SIGNALS	Gold and BTC signals
GoldSignals.io	Gold trading signals
Signals crypto	Crypto signals

In total, 13 channel placements were named in the media plan, plus similar communities. Channels were selected around crypto, forex, gold trading, and market signals, where audiences are accustomed to interacting with products inside Telegram.

Channel placements widened the audience beyond gaming while keeping intent high. Together with bot placements, they gave the campaign two complementary audience layers.

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🎯 Why the Targeting Worked

The campaign combined two audience layers, each with its own role in driving bot starts:

Audience layer	Who they are	Why they start the bot
Telegram-native users	People already interacting with bots, games, and Mini Apps	High natural propensity to click Launch bot
Crypto & trading audiences	Highly active Telegram users in crypto, forex, and gold trading communities	Used to discovering new products, tools, and interactive mechanics inside Telegram

This structure concentrated spend on audiences most likely to open and interact with the bot, not on broad, low-intent reach. Paid ads stop the moment your budget does, which is why every placement had to earn its share of the spend.

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✅ Telegram Ads Results: Bot Starts, Media Spend, and Cost per Bot Start

Across Telegram Ads, the campaign generated 9,765 bot starts from approximately 15,000 USDT in media spend. The table below summarizes the key campaign metrics.

KPI	Result
Bot starts generated	9,765
Media spend	~15,000 USDT
Average cost per bot start	~1.54 USDT
Hand-picked placements	35+ (bots and channels)
Audience layers	2 (Telegram-native users, crypto & trading audiences)
Channel	Telegram Ads

These numbers show what placement-first Telegram advertising delivers: nearly ten thousand bot starts from a controlled budget, with every dollar tied to a specific bot or channel.

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📈 Conclusion

❌ Before: A Mini App promo mechanic that depends on users opening a bot, and a Telegram advertising option that defaults to broad interest targeting and low-intent reach.

✅ After: 9,765 bot starts from ~15,000 USDT in media spend, at ~1.54 USDT per bot start, delivered through 35+ hand-picked bot and channel placements across two audience layers.

The model scales naturally: add new bot and channel placements, keep what performs, and cut what does not. Most Mini App advertisers still lean on broad reach, so a placement-first setup is a lane worth building early.

In short: ICODA ran a Telegram Ads campaign for UDS Wheel of Fortune, a Telegram Mini App with a prize-wheel mechanic. Using placement targeting across 35+ gaming and Web3 bots and crypto trading channels, the campaign generated 9,765 bot starts from approximately 15,000 USDT in media spend, an average of ~1.54 USDT per bot start.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What counts as a bot start in Telegram Ads?

A bot start is the moment a user sees the ad and taps Launch bot to open the advertised bot. For UDS Wheel of Fortune that tap opens the Mini App with the prize wheel, so a bot start is the first real action inside the product. The campaign was optimized for this single step: 9,765 bot starts at ~1.54 USDT each.

Why use placement targeting instead of broad interest targeting?

Broad targeting is cheaper per impression but more expensive per result, because most impressions go to people who never tap Launch. Telegram’s interest categories are blunt, so choosing specific bots and channels is the closest thing to behavioral targeting the platform offers. For UDS Wheel of Fortune we hand-picked 35+ placements, so every USDT of the budget went to a specific bot or channel.

Why add trading channels if gaming bots are the core audience?

Gaming bots delivered the most relevant audience, but their reach is limited. The campaign added a second layer: 13 crypto, forex and gold trading channels whose subscribers discover new products and tools inside Telegram every day. This widened reach beyond gaming without falling back on random audiences, and together the two layers delivered 9,765 bot starts at ~1.54 USDT on average.

Could a crypto influencer post get the same result?

They solve different problems. An influencer brings trust: a familiar voice recommends the product. Placement targeting brings control: you know which bot or channel drove the starts, and you can keep what performs and cut what does not. For a Mini App where the first tap on Launch matters, placements give predictable volume. The two can work together.

How did you choose which bots and channels to advertise in?

By audience fit. We started with bots where users already open Mini Apps and collect rewards: Telegram games like Catizen and Boinkers, gaming hubs like Gamee and PlayDeck, TON products and Web3 wallets. Then we added crypto, forex and gold trading channels, whose audiences regularly try new products inside Telegram. The media plan named 22 bots and 13 channels.