Refers to Telegram Premium were discovered earlier this week, with this paid tier reportedly handing out exclusive stickers and comments. It’s Telegram’s developer’s first major attempt to monetize the app directly through consumers.
We were curious about the prospect of readers paying for Telegram Premium, and as a result, we put a poll in our news article. So without further ado, here are the results of that research.
Would you pay for Telegram Premium?
Results
At the time of writing, just over 1,400 votes were counted, so which was the most popular choice? Well, it turns out that 60.58% of respondents say they won’t buy Telegram Premium. Telegram already offers plenty of free features (including chats, channels, VoIP and video calls, and large file uploads), so we can understand why many don’t care about the paid offering.
Meanwhile, 27.77% of polled readers say it depends on price and features. We can understand this position as something like $1 a month could be worth it if you value additional stickers/comments or just want to support the app. At least one reader also suggested they support a one-time payment, but not a subscription.
Finally, 11.65% of respondents say they will indeed pay for Telegram Premium. There’s no word on when the paid offering will launch, but we’re definitely curious how many of these users will put their money in their mouths and pay for it.
Comments
- DBS: It would depend. If it’s a one-time payment, yes, I’d pay for it. But if it’s a subscription, then absolutely not. I do NOT pay for subscription software.
- distant place: As soon as they reduce my functionality and expect me to pay for it, I’ll be elsewhere.
- jeik: Discord also started in a similar way, if I remember correctly, by first making stickers a part of Nitro, but now you have to pay for Nitro even if you send a slightly larger photo to a friend. Then Reddit followed with ads and stuff. Now Telegram wants to get in on the greedy snowball effect; “Oh, it’s just a few small features, for those who want to support us. :)” changes to: “Oh boy, do you want to send a file/photo to a friend? You can’t, you have to give us money for everything above 8 MB!” and “Are those 1-minute/invasive ads bothering you? 🙁 You can pay us to remove those, you know… And we’re even kind enough to let you use the app as you were used to before we introduced paywalls added to the user experience.”