How Indian Telegram Influencers Are Finding Brand Deals in Nepal
While Telegram has grown significantly in India, not all users seem to know that the messaging app allows more than just message exchanges among peers. It provides many popular channels with millions of subscribers that are run by top influencers in India.
In India, Telegram is seen as the go-to app for free and unfiltered adult content and has become an integral part of the digital lives of its millions of users. Recently, Indian Telegram influencers have started to find brand deals with Nepali businesses that are looking to target and reach a young audience in both Nepal and India.
A growing number of Indian Telegram influencers have started to use the platform’s popularity in Nepal to charge advertisement fees from Nepali businesses. They have begun advertising various Nepali businesses—such as travel agencies, hotels, and bakeries—that want to reach a wider audience.
🚀 Telegram’s Growing Popularity in Nepal
Telegram reportedly has about five million active users in Nepal.
The rise of the app for Nepali users has also been fueled by recent bans on other messaging apps in the country. For instance, more than 100 dating apps were banned earlier this year in Nepal, which has led many users to migrate to Telegram, since it allows many adult channels to operate without restrictions.
Telegram has become a staple for unfiltered media, especially adult content, and that has attracted Indian influencers running adult channels.
🎯 Nepali Businesses Targeting a Young Audience
Many businesses in Nepal are seeking to capture a young audience in the region, both in Nepal and northern India. Various Nepali enterprises—ranging from online shopping sites to travel agencies—are hopping onto the Telegram advertising bandwagon by using popular Telegram influencers from India.
The influencers they are hiring help them bridge the gap between the two countries. Nepali businesses are finding that advertisements with popular Indian Telegram influencers—many of whom have millions of subscribers—are helping them generate leads and make sales.
One of the most popular influencers is Karan Singh, who runs Karan Singh Telegram Channel, a channel that has gained popularity for sharing a variety of adult content. He is reportedly charging businesses in Nepal a monthly fee of NPR 45,500 (about INR 28,500) for advertisements on his channel.
Singh has reportedly done deals with various players in the Nepali adult industry. For instance, Singh advertised a Nepali adult website called NepaliDai by sharing its link with his subscribers, who easily converted to potential customers for the business.
🏞️ Tourism Popularity
Tourism is the largest industry in Nepal, accounting for a significant portion of its GDP. Nepali tourism agencies are finding success with Indian Telegram influencers who are helping them facilitate tours in the Himalayan country.
A Nepali travel agency called Green Himalaya has teamed up with Karan Singh and other Indian Telegram influencers to promote its tours to young travelers interested in visiting Nepal.
Karan Singh has also teamed up with another Indian Telegram influencer called Mukesh Rai to promote the agency. Mukesh Rai runs Mukesh Rai Telegram Channel, which also boasts a large subscriber count.
According to an article by The Kathmandu Post, Mukesh Rai is charging the Green Himalaya travel agency NPR 150,000 (about INR 96,000) for a month-long advertisement deal.
BakeryUp is another example of a Nepali business that has successfully tapped into the Indian Telegram influencer market.
BakeryUp, a Nepali bakery based in Butwal, has been gaining traction online after teaming up with various Indian Telegram influencers.
The business reportedly hired more than a dozen Telegram influencers from India to promote it on the platform. It is currently in contact with more Indian influencers to expand its reach further.
💠 Payment Normalization
The majority of users in Nepal who process payments using mobile wallets prefer to use eSewa over any of the other eWallets because it is the most popular in the country.
However, Indian Telegram influencers typically prefer to be paid in Indian rupees.
Most of the Nepali businesses that have been hiring Indian Telegram influencers to promote them are using an Indian payment facilitation app called Converge to pay their influencers.
Converge app allows businesses in Nepal to make payments in Indian rupees to Indian recipients. Some businesses are also using Indian bank accounts to facilitate the payments.
Themes of cross-border payments have played a major role in the rising trend of hiring Indian Telegram influencers among Nepali businesses.
📢 Telegram Influencers
Telegram influencers can be categorized into two major categories: adult and non-adult Telegram influencers.
Adult influencers dominate the Telegram space in India, with popular channels within that genre reaching millions of subscribers.
For instance, the most popular adult Telegram channel in India is called Hindi Films, which has amassed a whopping 16 million subscribers. The channel primarily shares short videos of various adult scenes pulled mostly from Bollywood films.
💡 Other Categories of Influencers
Other than adult channels, popular niche categories on Telegram include memes, tech, news, and anime. The most popular Telegram channels in India include:
- Bollywood - 3.73 million subscribers
- Tech Bhai - 3.33 million subscribers
- Dharam Singh - 3.09 million subscribers
- Tasty - 2.27 million subscribers
- Cricket - 1.52 million subscribers
Many of the channels from those genres also reach subscriber numbers in millions, establishing a thriving influencer marketplace on Telegram.
📊 Telegram Market for Advertisements
Telegram influencers can earn anywhere between INR 2,500 to INR 10,000 for 100 advertisements, depending on the niche.
For adult channels, the earning potential is reportedly much more lucrative. Adult Telegram influencers can earn INR 1,000 or more for each advertisement that they share with their audience.
It’s important to clarify that adult content is widely popular among Telegram users in India.
📃 Telegram Advertisement Formats
Telegram advertisement formats include:
- Text Message
- Photo
- Video
- Pin to Top Message
- File
Text message advertisements are typically the most basic, with the price being significantly lower than the others.
❗ Risks
An advertisement from such channels usually means a message from the influencer sharing the business’s details with their audience.
However, Nepali advertisers have raised concerns that their advertisements aren’t completely safe, especially the ones that advertise adult products and services.
For instance, some Nepali businesses hiring Telegram influencers from India have reported that their advertisements were deleted from the influencers’ channels, as well as from Telegram.
This has caused severe issues for the businesses because they can’t get their advertisement money back.
Overall, it seems that Indian Telegram influencers are finding a sustainable way to earn money through brand deals with Nepali businesses.
With increasing Telegram usage in Nepal, the need for Nepal-based businesses to target a larger audience that includes northern India seems to be solidifying the trend as well.
It will be interesting to see how this trend evolves in the coming years, especially after the Nepali government announced a ban on pornographic content in the country a while back.