Telegram crossed a billion monthly active users in March 2025, and affiliate marketers noticed. The platform's open API, channel broadcasting, and bot framework now drive some of the cheapest qualified traffic in crypto, iGaming, and nutra. If you've been running paid ads on Meta or TikTok and watching CPMs climb, Telegram is probably the next channel worth testing. This guide walks through what's working in 2026, where the traps are, and how to build a Telegram presence that converts without getting your account nuked.