We asked, you told us: Most of you wouldn't pay for Telegram Premium

References to Telegram Premium were uncovered earlier this week, with this paid tier reportedly dishing out exclusive stickers and reactions. It marks the first major attempt by Telegram’s developer to directly monetize the app via consumers.

We were curious about the prospect of readers paying for Telegram Premium, posting a poll in our news article as a result. So without further ado, here are the results of that survey.

Would you pay for Telegram Premium?

Results

Just over 1,400 votes were counted as of writing, so what was the most popular pick? Well, it turns out that 60.58% of respondents say they won’t be buying Telegram Premium. Telegram already offers plenty of features for free (including chats, channels, VoIP and video calls, and large file uploads), so we can see why many don’t care about the paid offering.

Meanwhile, 27.77% of polled readers say that it depends on the price and features. We can understand this position, as something like $1 a month might be worthwhile if you value extra stickers/reactions or if you just want to support the app. At least one reader also suggested that they’d 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 keen to see how many of these users will put their money where their mouth is 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.
• farawayplace: As soon as they reduce my functionality and expect me to pay for it, I’m elsewhere.
• Jeik: Discord also started in a similar manner, if I remember correctly, by first making stickers a part of Nitro but now you have to pay for Nitro even while sending a bit bigger photo to a friend. Then Reddit followed with ads and whatnot. Now Telegram wants to join in on the greedy snowballing; “Oh, it’s just some minor features, for those who want to support us. :)” turns into: “Oh boy, you want to send a file/photo to a friend? No can do, you gotta give us money for anything over 8MB!” and “Are those 1-minute/invasive ads bothering you? :( You can pay us to remove those, you know…And we’ll even be so kind to let you use the app like you used to prior to us adding paywalls to the user experience.”