Monetization is proving to be a tricky nut to crack
Messaging services like WhatsApp and Telegram aren’t just always trying to grow their user bases with new features, but find new ways to monetize those users through paid services. Telegram has offered a Premium subscription since June, allowing users to follow more channels, download files faster, and access additional features. Now the service has been spotted with individual messages and media locked behind a paywall.
Social media consultant Matt Navarra shared screenshots of Telegram paid posts (via 9to5Mac). We see images, videos, and even texts sent to channels locked behind pay-to-view messages. The video and image previews here are blurred out, with a button requesting payment positioned front and center, while messages appear collapsed until they are paid for.
The idea isn’t crazy, by any stretch — creators could use paid content distribution to monetize individual pieces of media. Paying to access individual posts could also become a simple way to gauge interest in a creator’s work, helping them gather funds for small-to-medium-scale projects, or rally support for social causes.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov explains that creators have been using “third-party payment bots” to monetize their work, and as a result they’d been getting almost all of what the viewer paid to see that media — rather than just a fraction of the cut, as is so often the case on mobile platforms. Unsurprisingly, Apple found out about this, and complained about not getting its 30%, so Telegram had to block access to these monetized posts on iOS devices.
Durov says Telegram will keep looking for ways to offer creators monetization tools, while steering clear of Apple’s ecosystem — and in the same breath, calling for regulatory action against what he sees as Apple abusing its position of power. Spotify also had a recent bitter encounter with Apple’s in-app purchase (IAP) guidelines when it launched audiobooks.
We hope a popular messaging service like Telegram isn’t booted off the App Store, but this isn’t the first time Durov has been quite vocal in his criticism of the iPhone maker.
