Telegram Mini-Apps in Telegram Sponsored Ads#

Telegram mini-apps (built on TON blockchain) use Telegram's own sponsored ads channel to acquire users. Telegram Ads Spy catalogued 100+ unique creatives from Notcoin, Hamster Kombat, DOGS, Blum, and TonStation.

Top Advertisers#

Creative Patterns#

Hamster Kombat — maximum intensity (10/10): «Tap to earn. Already 300M players. Your HMSTR tokens are waiting.» Simplest possible onboarding — tap a hamster, earn crypto. Zero barrier to entry.

Notcoin — legitimacy bridge: «From 35M Telegram players to real NOT tokens on TON. The game that proved tap-to-earn works.» Post-launch ads capitalized on proven airdrop delivery.

Blum — exchange utility: «Trade on TON inside Telegram. BLUM points → tokens. Invite friends, earn more.» Combines exchange utility with gamified point farming.

DOGS — Telegram identity: «For everyone who joined Telegram before 2019. DOGS rewards early adopters.» Unique retroactive distribution to long-time Telegram users.

Archive Data#

Live data: /api/v1/ads?tag=telegram-mini-apps

Market Context#

Telegram mini-apps became the dominant crypto user acquisition channel in 2024. Hamster Kombat's 300M registered users eclipsed any DeFi or CEX by orders of magnitude. The secret: zero-friction onboarding (just open Telegram), tap-to-earn mechanics that require no crypto knowledge, and eventual token airdrops as reward.

Geographic Distribution#

Russian-language channels dominate mini-app advertising (40%+) — Russia/CIS adopted tap-to-earn games most aggressively. Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines) was second-largest market. South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) saw rapid Hamster Kombat adoption.

TON Ecosystem Integration#

All major mini-apps are on TON blockchain. Telegram Ads Spy notes that mini-app advertising creates a flywheel for TON: user acquires mini-app via sponsored ad → downloads Telegram wallet → becomes TON ecosystem participant. Each mini-app is effectively a TON onboarding funnel.

2025–2026 Trends#

Post-airdrop mechanics shifted: Season 2 games launched (Hamster Kombat Season 2, Notcoin Season 2). DeFi mini-apps replaced pure clickers — Blum and TonStation offered real yield inside Telegram. Telegram Stars (paid features) integration with mini-apps created new monetization. The «tap-to-earn» era peaked in Q3 2024, with more sophisticated utility-apps taking over in 2025.

Source: Telegram Ads Spy Research · 22 April 2026 · CC-BY-4.0.

Related Reports#

• TON Ecosystem
• NFT Gaming
• Memecoins

Methodology#

Data extracted via gramesh /channels.getSponsored across 9,000+ channels. Classification by domain in ctaUrl with manual review. Counts represent unique creatives deduplicated, not impression counts.

Key Metrics#

Hamster Kombat: 300M+ users · HMSTR listed on Binance/OKX · #1 most-downloaded app globally Jul 2024 Notcoin: 35M users · NOT token $0.05+ at launch · $1B+ FDV at peak

Continue your research#

• Live creatives — browse Telegram mini apps campaigns in the Telegram Ads Spy archive; filter by date, brand and country.
• The cluster — every Telegram mini apps advertiser on Telegram indexed in the archive.
• Directories — niches · advertisers · channels.