Lessons from Telegram's Surge in News Audience Loyalty

By 2025, Telegram wasn’t just a messaging app anymore-it had become the go-to source for breaking news for over 80% of its 1 billion monthly users. That’s not a small niche. That’s a seismic shift in how people get their information. And it’s not because Telegram spent millions on ads. It’s because it did something no other platform dared to: it got out of the way.

Why People Trust Telegram for News

Most social media platforms have turned news into a game of clicks. Algorithms push outrage, sensationalism, and half-truths because they keep you scrolling. Telegram doesn’t care about that. Its news feed is chronological. You see posts in the order they’re published. No hidden rankings. No shadowbanning. No surprise videos of cats jumping into pools when you’re looking for updates on a geopolitical crisis.

That predictability matters. People who rely on news for decisions-traders, journalists, activists, even everyday citizens in unstable regions-value consistency. A Reddit user in March 2025 wrote: “I get Ukraine conflict updates 30 minutes before CNN, with raw footage no editor has time to edit.” That’s not hype. That’s the reality for millions. Telegram’s channel system lets publishers speak directly to their audience. No middlemen. No filters. Just raw, unfiltered updates.

Who’s Actually Using Telegram for News?

It’s not just techies in Silicon Valley. The largest group of Telegram news users are people aged 25-34, followed closely by those 18-24. Nearly 60% are male, but that gap is narrowing fast. What’s more telling is who they are: 20% work in IT, 13% are managers, and 119% growth among writers since 2020 means journalists are migrating there too.

Regions like India, Russia, and the U.S. lead in downloads, but growth is exploding in unexpected places. Rural England saw a 262% increase in users since 2020. Iowa and Normandy followed close behind. Even ethnic minority communities in the U.S. are adopting Telegram at twice the national rate. Why? Because when traditional media fails or gets silenced, Telegram doesn’t.

In Russia, 68% of independent journalists moved to Telegram after government crackdowns on media in 2022. In India, where misinformation spreads fast on WhatsApp, Telegram became the alternative for verified, fast-moving updates. It’s not about politics-it’s about access.

How Telegram Outperforms Traditional Platforms

Compare Telegram to Facebook or Twitter for news. Facebook’s trust score for news? 38%. Telegram? 52%. That’s not a small lead. That’s a collapse of confidence in legacy platforms.

Telegram’s technical edge is simple but powerful:

• Channels can have unlimited subscribers-some news channels hit over 10 million followers.
• Message open rates? 55-60%. Email marketers dream of 20%.
• One trillion monthly views on channels. That’s not a typo.
• Users spend over 41 minutes per day on the app, mostly reading news.
• Files up to 2GB can be shared-video reports, PDFs, audio briefings-all in one message.

Plus, Telegram doesn’t delete channels for being “controversial.” If a publisher gets banned on X or Meta, they show up on Telegram. That’s why financial analysts, independent journalists, and even underground news networks flock there. It’s the only place where you can post a 10-minute video explaining market shifts without fear of being demonetized.

The Dark Side: Misinformation and Lack of Accountability

But here’s the problem: Telegram doesn’t fact-check.

During the Middle East crisis in late 2024, users reported following channels that looked legitimate-official-looking logos, professional formatting, even verified-looking badges. Turns out, they were state-backed propaganda fronts. There’s no Community Notes like on X. No third-party fact-checkers. No warning labels.

Trustpilot reviews show an average satisfaction of 4.3/5 for news on Telegram-but only 3.2/5 for reliability. People love the speed and diversity, but they’re starting to worry. One user wrote: “I trusted a channel that said a nuclear plant had melted down. It was false. I had no way to verify it.”

This isn’t just a user problem. It’s a systemic one. Without moderation tools, Telegram’s platform becomes a free-for-all. And while that freedom attracts publishers, it also attracts bad actors.

How Successful News Channels Grow on Telegram

Building a news channel on Telegram isn’t about viral posts. It’s about consistency and trust.

Top-performing channels follow a clear pattern:

• Start with 500-1,000 subscribers-often migrated from Discord, WhatsApp, or Substack.
• Post 5-7 times a day. News moves fast; so should your updates.
• Use custom emojis, bold text, and formatting. Channels that do this see 22% higher engagement.
• Use bots to send welcome messages and FAQs. Channels with automated onboarding keep 37% more subscribers.
• Cross-promote in related channels. A crypto channel might partner with a finance bot channel. A war news channel might link to a humanitarian aid group.

It takes 3-6 months to gain real traction. No shortcuts. No paid ads that guarantee results. Just steady, reliable updates.

Monetization: How News Publishers Make Money

Telegram isn’t just free. It’s profitable.

About 70% of news channel admins earn through ads. Another 40% sell products or services directly-ebooks, consulting, courses, even private Telegram groups. In January 2025 alone, Telegram generated $13.6 million in revenue from Premium subscriptions and ads.

Big players are taking notice. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and 28 other financial institutions now run official news channels. Crypto brokers use Telegram as their primary customer comms tool. Why? Because their audience is already there-and engaged.

In March 2025, Telegram rolled out “Verified News Channels,” a paid badge system costing $99/month. It’s not a guarantee of truth, but it’s a step toward accountability. And by Q3 2025, they plan to launch “News Quality Scores”-an algorithm that rates content based on source citations and cross-verification.

What This Means for Media Organizations

The biggest lesson from Telegram’s rise isn’t about technology. It’s about trust.

Traditional media lost ground because they became intermediaries. They edited, curated, and filtered. Telegram didn’t. It gave publishers direct access to their audience. And that’s what people crave: authenticity over polish, immediacy over perfection.

Media companies that want to survive need to ask: Are we serving our audience-or the algorithm? If your news only lives on platforms that change their rules every six months, you’re vulnerable. If your audience relies on you, not a feed, you’re resilient.

Telegram’s model isn’t perfect. It’s messy. It’s unregulated. But it works. And that’s why it’s growing while others stagnate.

The Future: Regulation vs. Freedom

The EU’s Digital Services Act is now enforcing content moderation rules on platforms like Telegram. That’s a turning point. If Telegram starts deleting channels or adding fact-check labels, will publishers still come?

Gartner says the decentralized channel model gives Telegram “strong sustainability.” Forrester warns that “increased regulation could erode its key differentiators.”

The truth? Telegram’s power comes from its lack of control. But without any control, it risks becoming a danger. The challenge ahead isn’t just technical-it’s ethical. Can a platform balance freedom with responsibility? Or will it fracture under the weight of its own success?

For now, millions still choose Telegram because it gives them what no other platform can: the news, raw and real, straight from the source.