Pavel Durov, the creator of VKontakte and the founder of Telegram, announced a sweepstakes offering 10,000 Telegram Premium subscriptions worth a total of $200,000. The pledge appeared on Durov’s official English Telegram channel and quickly drew attention from users in North America and beyond.
The giveaway aligned with Telegram’s rollout of a new built-in tool for generating drawings inside the messenger. The announcement dropped on November 6, 2023, with the official results scheduled to be shared on November 13 at 19:00 local time. Each premium subscription awarded in the draw remains active for six months, giving winners access to Telegram’s paid features during that period.
In his post, Durov explained the motivation behind the campaign. He wrote that the large-scale giveaway accompanies the debut of the new drawing feature and noted his earlier involvement with the prize by stating that $200,000 had already been allocated for the campaign. The message, which included a lighthearted remark about purchasing Toncoins from a crypto exchange, underscored Telegram’s playful tone around innovative features and community engagement.
The post quickly gained traction, drawing more than 1.4 million views within the first day. The rapid engagement underscored Telegram’s appeal among users who value premium features and an ad-free, feature-rich messaging experience.
Participation in the subscription drawing is straightforward: users must subscribe to Pavel Durov’s English-language Telegram channel. This single requirement ensures that the outreach reaches a global audience while keeping the entry process simple for participants in Canada and the United States, among other regions. The simplicity of the entry method reflects a broader trend in platform-wide promotions that rely on clear, action-based incentives rather than complex tasks.
Earlier, there were reports about new features rolling out on other messaging platforms, reinforcing the context in which Telegram is expanding its ecosystem. The ongoing evolution of messaging apps continues to spark conversations about premium tiers, feature access, and the ways users interact with digital communities across borders.