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Messenger and Bot Ads

Applies to: Publishers · needs the matching permission on your account

A Bot Ads zone lets your Telegram, Discord or WhatsApp bot post sponsored messages. Your bot asks the ad server for an ad, posts it in the chat with a button, and reports that it was sent. You decide when your bot posts an ad; the zone limits how often a single chat gets one.

What this is#

Bot Ads is an ad zone type for native ads. It serves the same native campaigns as a native zone: a title, a short text, an image and a link.

  • Your bot asks, the ad server answers. The request carries the chat's id, and optionally a topic or the last message, which is matched against campaign keywords.
  • The answer is ready to post: the text, the image, the button text and the link. The link is tracked, so clicks are counted.
  • Each message counts once, when your bot reports it as sent.
  • A per-chat limit keeps a chat from getting too many ads. Once a chat reaches it, the answer is empty and says how long to wait.

If Bot Ads is not in the Type list when you create a zone, it has not been switched on for your network yet. Ask your account manager.

When you'll use this#

  • You run a bot or channel with an active audience and want to earn from it.
  • You already post your own messages and want to add a sponsored one now and then.

Set it up#

  1. Create a zone of type Bot Ads under Ad Zones.
  2. On the zone's Settings tab, fill in:
    • Ads per chat per hour: the most ads one chat gets in an hour. 0 means no limit.
    • Ad label: the disclosure your bot shows with the ad, Sponsored by default.
    • Button text: the text on the button that opens the ad, Open by default.
    • Image Orientation: the image format of the ads.
  3. Open the Code tab. It shows the request your bot sends and example code for Telegram (Python) and Discord (Node). Adapt it to your bot.
  4. Post an ad in a test chat and check that it appears with its button.

Tips#

  • Send the chat's topic or the last message along with the request. Ads that match it earn more and feel less out of place.
  • Fire the impression link only when the message was really sent; that is when the ad counts.
  • Messenger apps don't tell your bot the reader's IP address, so country targeting sees your bot's server. If your bot knows the reader's IP address and browser, you can pass them along.

Troubleshooting#

  • The answer says "capped": that chat reached its hourly limit. Try again after the number of seconds in the answer.
  • No ads come back: the zone has no running native campaign, or none matches the topic you sent. Try once without a topic.