VPN Ads on Telegram in Russia (2026): €1.27 CPM, Moderation and Launch

On 4 April 2026 Pavel Durov wrote that 65 million Russians use Telegram every day through VPNs, more than 50 million of them sending messages daily, and added a line anyone selling a VPN to that market should pin above the desk: “Thousands are building VPNs and proxies” (t.me/durov/477). Your buyer already lives in Telegram, already runs a VPN, and when it stops working, looks for a replacement right there, the same evening.

What it costs to reach those people, and what moderation does with the ad, is answered below with Adsly Pro Panel data as of 22 October 2026: 1,795 VPN campaigns with spend, targeted at Russia only, from 16 Euro accounts, 3,198,950 impressions and €4,055 spent.

VPN ads in Russia on Telegram: the short version

• Reach. €1.27 per 1,000 impressions with audience targeting in Russia, against €2.68 for every other niche there and about €4.3 inside bots and channels.
• Bot starts. €0.214 across 1,791 Start bot campaigns; other niches in Russia paid €1.185, 5.5 times more.
• Clicks. 1.05% CTR, and 56% of clicks end in a start.
• Moderation. 44 of 1,923 declined (2.3%), all from one account and one offer.
• Setup. Audience targeting in Russia, with 1,642 ads aimed at the subscribers of exactly one channel.
• Account. Since 20 October 2026 Russia is a separate Euro account. Adsly, the official Telegram Ads partner, opens it in 48 hours from €500 ad budget + 30% commission.

Why Russia is the cheapest reach for a VPN on Telegram

CPM on Telegram Ads is not a rate card but your bid, the price you set for one thousand views (Ad Platform Explained). VPN advertisers in Russia hold it near €1.28, and the auction gives them volume.

Where the VPN ads ran (Euro, campaigns with spend)	Campaigns	Accounts	Impressions	CPM	CTR	Cost per click	Cost per start or join
Users in Russia (audience targeting)	1,795	16	3,198,950	€1.27	1.05%	€0.121	€0.215
Inside selected bots	3,354	18	1,329,211	€4.34	3.77%	€0.114	€0.198
In selected channels	795	15	166,939	€4.30	3.58%	€0.120	€0.167
All other niches, users in Russia	53,303	67	163,121,235	€2.68	0.63%	€0.422	—

Reach in Russia is 3.4 times cheaper than inside bots or channels and 2.1 times cheaper than what other niches pay for the same country. Bots and channels get roughly three and a half times the CTR, so their click also lands at €0.11–0.12, but they set no country: their geography is whoever uses that bot or channel, and they deliver a fraction of the volume. The largest account holds 16.6% of these impressions, the second 14.6%, so this is a market price. Choosing bots and channels for a VPN bot is covered in how to grow a VPN bot on Telegram.

What a VPN bot start costs in Russia

1,791 of the 1,795 VPN campaigns aimed at Russia open a bot, so the fair benchmark is other niches buying bot starts in Russia.

Campaigns with a Start bot button, targeting Russia	Campaigns	Accounts	Impressions	CPM	CTR	Cost per click	Cost per bot start	Click to start
VPN	1,791	14	3,167,058	€1.27	1.06%	€0.120	€0.214	56.2%
All other niches	7,728	30	9,374,561	€1.99	0.47%	€0.426	€1.185	36.0%

VPN CTR is 2.3 times higher, the click 3.5 times cheaper, the start 5.5 times cheaper. People go looking for a VPN and install one the day they decide they need it, so an ad about a stable connection reads as an answer, not an interruption.

A start is a tap on Start in your bot, as recorded by Telegram. It is not a payment or an active subscription; turning starts into paid keys is the bot’s job. The largest account in the other-niches row holds 34% of impressions, so that row is a market figure too.

The separate Russia account and why you need it

Since 20 October 2026 Adsly Euro accounts come in three kinds: Any country (every country except Russia and Ukraine, chosen per campaign), Russia and Ukraine. A VPN selling to users in Russia orders the Russia account, at the same price: €500 ad budget + 30% commission, through the same form at /cabinet/.

What it adds over a self-serve account on ads.telegram.org:

1. External links. Self-serve links must point to a Telegram channel or bot: “Links to external sites are not allowed.” A Euro account can also send traffic to your website, landing page or App Store and Google Play listing.
2. Delivery in Russia. We open Russia and Ukraine on Euro accounts; that is what the Russia account is for.
3. A direct line to Telegram moderation for declined ads.
4. Two dashboards: ads.telegram.org and Pro Panel, the strongest panel for Telegram Ads, with bulk creation, rules and recreation of declined ads.

Opened within 48 hours of payment, no KYC, any crypto. Niche details: Euro account for VPN.

How VPN advertisers target Russia

Every one of the 1,795 campaigns uses the Users targeting type, which shows the ad to people in Russia in the channels they read. Within it the market settled on one technique: in 1,771 campaigns the audience is the subscribers of specific channels (the user_channels field in the Telegram Ads form script), and in 1,642 ads that is exactly one channel, 202 different channels overall.

Audience channels per ad	Campaigns	Accounts	Impressions	CPM	CTR	Cost per click	Cost per start
One channel	1,642	14	3,016,477	€1.27	1.08%	€0.117	€0.209
11 or more	129	6	135,305	€1.35	0.62%	€0.216	€0.380
No channels, country only	24	4	47,168	€1.05	0.46%	€0.226	€2.599

One channel per ad earned a 1.7 times higher CTR and a start 45% cheaper than eleven channels or more: each ad gets its own statistics, and a weak audience can be switched off alone. Split them up front, because once an ad is created “its targeting parameters can’t be changed”. Pro Panel’s bulk creation in Users mode puts one audience channel into each ad by default, so 50 channels become 50 ads in one pass.

Frequency: 1,600 campaigns show the ad once per person (1.08% CTR, €0.202 per start); 195 campaigns from three accounts with two views got 0.93% and €0.291. Language: 817 campaigns without a language filter got a 1.12% CTR and a €0.175 start, against 1.02% and €0.241 for the 978 narrowed to Russian; a Russian-language audience channel already sets the language, and rule 4.7 asks that the ad and the bot match it. Since mid-September some advertisers also run this audience inside bots; the Russia data there is still thin, and the format is explained in ads inside Telegram bots.

What CPM to bid for Russia

CPM percentiles for VPN campaigns targeting Russia with spend and at least 1,000 impressions (454 campaigns, 16 accounts):

10th percentile	25th	Median	75th	90th
€0.80	€1.26	€1.28	€1.40	€1.50

Half the campaigns paid €1.26–1.40. Start at €1.30 and, if the ad does not deliver, go to €1.40–1.50, not €3: overpaying buys the same subscriber of the same channel.

For clicks, the same 454 campaigns had a median CTR of 0.98%, 0.68% at the bottom quarter and 1.37% at the top. An ad below 0.7% after its first thousand impressions needs new copy or a new audience channel, and a Pro Panel rule on CTR, cost per click or cost per start can pause it for you. If your bot sends purchases back as postbacks, the rule can watch cost per purchase too.

Month by month: August is the peak

Grouped by the date the ad was created; impressions and spend are lifetime totals.

Month created (2026)	Campaigns	Accounts	Impressions	CPM	CTR	Cost per click	Cost per start
June	218	3	400,096	€1.38	1.07%	€0.128	€0.217
July	424	5	627,484	€1.30	1.00%	€0.130	€0.233
August	408	6	1,302,472	€1.34	1.17%	€0.115	€0.202
September	280	5	158,058	€0.99	1.04%	€0.095	€0.236
October (1–22)	238	5	233,179	€1.31	0.76%	€0.172	€0.332

August campaigns collected 1.30 million impressions, more than any other month, with the table’s best CTR and cheapest start. April is left out: one account delivered 98% of its 447,986 impressions. Since July five to six accounts have run Russia at once; October campaigns are still live.

Competition grows, the price does not. Telemetr’s study of 1.7 million Russian-language channels (29 September 2026) shows the VPN share of new Telegram Ads rising from 0.40% in February 2026 to 2.55% in July, with 321 of 400 VPN advertisers placing their first ad in February 2026 or later. Our CPM stayed between €0.99 and €1.38: VPN is just 1.9% of Euro impressions targeting Russia in Pro Panel.

Moderation of VPN ads for Russia: 2.3% declined, all from one offer

44 of the 1,923 VPN campaigns targeting Russia on Euro accounts were declined, 2.3%, against 3.7% for other niches there (2,161 of 57,684 campaigns, 69 accounts). All 44 came from one account out of 16, 44 of its 142 campaigns.

Offer in the ad	Campaigns	Accounts	Declined
Free VPN days for joining a channel, button opens a bot	103	1	44
Every other VPN ad targeting Russia	1,820	16	0
Of which: about stable access to familiar sites and services	871	8	0

We store the status, not the reason, but two rules fit. Rule 5.11 bans “Incentivized or automated clicks, including requests to perform actions” and “Social media growth manipulation”; rule 4.3 says “Destinations must match the ad text”, while this copy asks you to join a channel and the button opens a bot. The same account’s ads that gave three free days simply for connecting, with no channel to join, were never declined, and the two declined texts themselves passed in 59 other campaigns: every ad is reviewed on its own. A declined ad opens with the reason and the rule (Ad Platform Explained); fixes are in our guide to declined ads.

Where to send traffic from Russia: bot, website or store

1,791 of the 1,795 campaigns open a Telegram bot and only 3 go to a website.

• Website. Rule 4.2 bans “websites unavailable from targeted locations”, so a landing page that does not load for a user in Russia sinks the ad, however good the copy.
• App store. On 30 March 2026 it was reported that more than two dozen VPN apps, popular ones among them, had left the Russian App Store (RBC).
• Bot. It works wherever the messenger does, sells the plan, hands over the key and the setup guide in one window.

The rules ask the bot for a profile picture and full description (4.1), correct responses on mobile and desktop (4.2) and real functionality, not “mostly noninteractive bots designed to redirect elsewhere” (4.3). Rule 3 allows start parameters in bot links, so tag every ad and your bot will tell you which audience channel brings paying users. Turning starts into payments is covered in growing a VPN bot; bot-versus-channel economics in channel vs bot.

What a €500 ad budget buys: arithmetic on measured averages

Not a promise: €500 of ad balance divided by the averages above.

Placement (Euro, Pro Panel data)	CPM	Impressions for €500	Cost per click	Clicks for €500	Cost per start	Starts for €500
VPN, users in Russia	€1.27	≈394,000	€0.121	≈4,130	€0.215	≈2,330
VPN, inside selected bots	€4.34	≈115,000	€0.114	≈4,390	€0.198	≈2,530
VPN, in selected channels	€4.30	≈116,000	€0.120	≈4,170	€0.167	≈2,990
Other niches, Russia, Start bot	€1.99	≈251,000	€0.426	≈1,170	€1.185	≈420

The same €500 buys a VPN in Russia about 5.5 times the bot starts of the average niche, and audience targeting brings 3.4 times the impressions of bots and channels at almost the same cost per start. The channels row counts bot starts and channel joins.

How to launch VPN ads in Russia: step by step

1. Order the Russia account at /cabinet/: VPN niche, €500 ad budget + 30% commission, any crypto.
2. Get access within 48 hours in ads.telegram.org and Pro Panel.
3. Prepare the bot: picture, description, /start working on mobile and desktop, plans and free trial visible before payment (rule 5.7), key delivered in the chat.
4. Collect Russian-language audience channels whose readers are your buyers; the market in our data used 202.
5. One ad per channel: Users, Russia, one view per person, €1.30 bid, each ad with its own start parameter. Pro Panel builds the list in one pass.
6. After the first thousand impressions, pause anything under 0.7% CTR or above €0.30 per start, by hand or with a rule, and add budget to the winners.
7. If declined, read the reason, drop any reward for joining, recreate the ad; borderline cases we settle with moderation directly.

Want the launch and daily work handled for you? That is our Managed Service. The wider VPN acquisition map is in how to promote a VPN in 2026, other countries’ prices in Telegram Ads CPM by country.

FAQ

How much do VPN ads on Telegram cost in Russia?

In Adsly Pro Panel: €1.27 per 1,000 impressions, €0.121 per click and €0.215 per bot start across 1,795 campaigns on 16 Euro accounts (March to 22 October 2026). Other niches pay €2.68 per thousand impressions there. The Russia account starts at €500 ad budget + 30% commission.

Can you advertise a VPN on Telegram Ads in Russia?

Yes, and moderation is not the barrier. Telegram’s Ad Policies have no VPN section; 2.3% of the 1,923 VPN campaigns targeting Russia in our data were declined, against 3.7% for other niches, all from one account with one offer.

Which account do I need for VPN ads in Russia?

The Russia Euro account, open since 20 October 2026 at the same price as Any country and through the same form. Adsly opens it in 48 hours, with no KYC and access in ads.telegram.org and Pro Panel.

How many bot starts will €500 buy?

About 2,300 at the measured €0.215 per VPN bot start in Russia; that is arithmetic on averages, not a guarantee. Other niches in Russia would get about 420.

What CPM should I bid for Russia?

About €1.30. The median was €1.28, half the campaigns paid €1.26–1.40, and the top 10% €1.50 or more.

Why do VPN ads get declined on Telegram?

In our Russia data, almost only for free VPN days in exchange for joining a channel, with a button that opens a bot, which sits next to rules 5.11 and 4.3. The other 1,820 VPN ads passed without a decline.

Can the ad link to my website or the App Store?

From a Euro account, yes; self-serve accounts accept Telegram links only. For Russia, the site must open in the country (rule 4.2), which is why 1,791 of 1,795 campaigns open a bot.

Sources

• Pavel Durov, 4 April 2026: t.me/durov/477
• Telegram Ads: Ad Platform Explained and Ad Policies and Guidelines
• Telegram Ads form script: promote.js
• Telemetr, 29 September 2026: study of Russian-language channels (in Russian)
• RBC, 31 March 2026: VPN apps removed from the Russian App Store (in Russian)
• Adsly Pro Panel, read-only queries on 22.10.2026: VPN in the campaign title, Euro accounts, Russia as the only country, created 29.03–22.10.2026; lifetime counters; CTR and cost per click exclude campaigns with more clicks than impressions or CTR above 25%; a start is Telegram’s count, not a payment

Ready to run your VPN in Russia? Message @adsly_pro or order the Russia account at /cabinet/.