United States
Ads live: Pilot from February 2026; self-serve from May 5, 2026The biggest audience and the only market with independent performance data so far. Financial, health and legal advertisers can apply here, case by case.
ChatGPT now shows sponsored placements to its Free and Go users in more than 60 countries, and many advertisers are still working out how to buy them. We set up your Ads Manager account with tracking that holds up, then write and run ads around the conversations your buyers are already having. You pay us a flat monthly fee; your ad spend goes straight to OpenAI.
The channel is young. OpenAI opened self-serve buying to every US business on May 5, 2026, and expanded across Europe, India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia by late September. So nobody has years of benchmarks, including us; what an agency brings is a careful test plan and the paid-media habits that carry over from Google, Meta and Reddit.
Self-serve in OpenAI's Ads Manager, or through OpenAI's partner agencies and tech platforms.
CPM (per 1,000 views), CPC (per click), and conversion-optimized bidding that is still billed per click.
Labelled text placements under ChatGPT's answer; Sponsored Agents (a branded chat) and image-generation ads are in US tests.
Adult users on the Free and Go plans; Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu users see none.
The topic of the conversation, plus your own customer lists to include, exclude or bid up.
OpenAI pixel, Conversions API, and HubSpot and Shopify integrations.
No published minimum for self-serve; a daily campaign floor applies, and it varies by currency.
Sources: OpenAI's May 2026 announcement on buying ChatGPT ads, OpenAI's ad policies (updated September 10, 2026), PPC Land's market-by-market reporting and Search Engine Journal's coverage of CPC bidding.
Most of the setup work happens before the first ad goes live. Skip it and you end up paying for clicks you cannot trace back to a sale.
We create or audit your Ads Manager account, billing and user access in your company's name. Everything the account collects belongs to you from day one, and it stays yours if you ever leave us.
See the audit →OpenAI's pixel on the site, the Conversions API on the server, and the HubSpot or Shopify connection where you use one. Every conversion event is tested before we spend a dollar on traffic.
ChatGPT matches ads to the topic of a conversation instead of a keyword list. We map the conversations your buyers have, write the context hints for each ad group and load your customer lists for exclusions and bid adjustments.
An ad under a ChatGPT answer reads badly if it sounds like a banner. We write short, specific copy that follows on from the question, then check that the landing page answers it too.
Most accounts start on CPC to control cost while tracking settles. Once enough conversions flow, we move the best ad groups to conversion bidding and keep CPM for awareness tests where reach is the goal.
Weekly tests on copy, context and landing pages. Each month we reconcile OpenAI's numbers against GA4 and your CRM, because a platform this new should be checked against tracking you already trust.
Logged-in adults on ChatGPT's Free and Go plans, in the markets where ads are live. Paying users
on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu see no ads, and users under 18 are excluded.
Ads also stay away from certain conversations. OpenAI does not show them next to sensitive or
regulated topics such as personal health, mental health or politics, even for advertisers
approved in those categories. So your ad will never sit beside a distressing conversation
(good), and some of the questions your buyers ask will never carry an ad at all (less good, if
you sell in one of those categories).
Advertisers are often surprised by how little they see. OpenAI says you get aggregated
performance data only, never individual conversations. You learn which ad groups convert. You do
not learn what a particular person typed.
Google Ads is the safer channel for capturing demand today. ChatGPT ads reach people earlier, while they are still asking which option fits. For most brands the sensible first step is a test budget carved out of search, with Google left running.
| Comparison | ChatGPT ads | Google Ads |
|---|---|---|
| How ads are matched | The context of a whole conversation | Keywords and audiences |
| Where people are in the decision | Usually researching and comparing | Often ready to click and buy |
| Bidding | CPM, CPC, conversion bidding billed per click | A long list of automated strategies |
| Benchmarks | A few months of data, none published by OpenAI | Twenty years of them |
| Who you reach | Free and Go users only | Almost every searcher |
| Reported cost | Early US CPC bids of about $3 to $5, per Search Engine Journal | Varies widely by keyword |
| Best use right now | Testing a new audience before competitors crowd it | Steady, measurable demand capture |
We are an Indian firm with offices in Chennai and Singapore, and we run campaigns across time zones. Availability and rules differ by market, so a campaign plan starts with where your buyers are.
The biggest audience and the only market with independent performance data so far. Financial, health and legal advertisers can apply here, case by case.
Self-serve open; consumer categories only, as financial and health ads outside the US are generally prohibited.
Ads are matched on conversation topic, general location and device type rather than a personal profile.
A large Free-tier audience; daily campaign floors in rupees are among the lowest listed.
OpenAI has not published activation dates for each country, so we confirm availability per account before planning.
Part of a seven-market Southeast Asia launch, with self-serve open from day one.
Dates as reported by PPC Land from OpenAI announcements and help-centre pages. Country lists change often; we check them again before each launch.
OpenAI's ad policies decide more than any strategy does. Before we take a brief, we check your category against them; for a few industries the honest answer is “not yet” or “only in the US”.
Product and category campaigns, Shopify tracking, customer lists to exclude existing buyers.
Course and programme campaigns aimed at people comparing options; finance courses only if they sell no financial service.
Destination and trip-type campaigns built around planning conversations.
Lead campaigns with HubSpot tracking, judged on qualified pipeline instead of clicks.
Ads for individual listings, rentals or sales are banned. Brokerages and property platforms can advertise if the ad and landing page point to no specific listing.
Hospitals can apply case by case with proof of licensure; invasive or high-risk procedures are prohibited, so many fertility treatments may not qualify. Outside the US, health ads are generally prohibited.
Investment and brokerage services are restricted to the US, and an exchange or token sale is likely to be treated as a financial service. We will not promise a crypto campaign until OpenAI approves one.
Based on OpenAI's ad policies, last updated September 10, 2026. Restricted categories go through manual review of the advertiser, the creative and the landing page.
We also run AI SEO, so we can see when a buyer's question already names you for free and when it needs an ad, and spend accordingly. Our own brand is cited 66 times across seven AI platforms in Ahrefs tracking from August 2026. AI SEO
Our paid media team runs ads on Google, X and Reddit for clients today, and has worked in ChatGPT's Ads Manager. We do not have a ChatGPT ads result we can publish yet, so we will not invent one. Your first campaign is a structured test with a cut-off, and you see every number we see.
See our published case studiesSource: Ahrefs tracking, August 2026. Browse our published case studies.
Every plan runs for at least three months, because the first month mostly teaches the algorithm and us what converts. If a campaign shows nothing useful by week four, we cut it and move the budget.
Policy check for your category and markets, Ads Manager access, pixel and Conversions API, test conversions. Nothing goes live until tracking works.
Two or three ad groups built around the conversations most likely to convert, each with its own copy and landing page, bid on CPC so cost stays visible.
The ad groups that bring leads or sales get more budget; the rest get rewritten once or switched off. Conversion bidding starts where the data is strong enough.
New markets, customer-list audiences and new formats as OpenAI opens them, with a monthly report reconciled against your own analytics.
We charge a fixed monthly management fee, never a percentage of your ad spend, so we gain nothing by telling you to spend more. Your media budget is paid directly to OpenAI from your own account.
Suggested ad spend: from $3,000 a month
Suggested ad spend: from $10,000 a month
Suggested ad spend: from $25,000 a month
| Audit | Starter | Growth | Scale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | ||||
| Policy check for your category and markets | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ads Manager account set up in your name | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| OpenAI pixel and Conversions API | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| HubSpot or Shopify integration | – | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Third-party measurement and geo tests | – | – | – | ✓ |
| Campaigns | ||||
| Markets | – | 1 | Up to 3 | Unlimited |
| Ad groups | – | Up to 3 | Up to 10 | Scoped |
| Context mapping and ad copy | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Fresh ad copy | – | Monthly | Every two weeks | Weekly |
| Landing page review | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Customer-list audiences | – | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sponsored Agents and new formats | – | – | – | ✓ |
| Bidding | ||||
| CPC bidding | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Conversion bidding | – | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Account checks | – | Weekly | Twice a week | Daily |
| Reporting | ||||
| Report reconciled with GA4 and your CRM | – | Monthly | Monthly | Agreed in scope |
| Strategy calls | – | Monthly | Bi-weekly | Agreed in scope |
| Dedicated paid-media lead | – | – | – | ✓ |
Platform costs are separate, and OpenAI publishes no official rates. When CPC bidding opened, Search Engine Journal reported early US bids of about $3 to $5 a click; expect your category to differ.
Sign up for OpenAI's Ads Manager, add a payment method and create a campaign with a budget and goal. Then upload your ads, install OpenAI's pixel or Conversions API so you can track results, and launch. You can also buy through one of OpenAI's partner agencies or an independent agency like ours.
Start with tracking: install the pixel, send test conversions and confirm they appear. Then build a small number of ad groups around specific buyer conversations, write context hints and short copy for each, set CPC bids and a daily budget above the campaign floor for your currency, and review results weekly before scaling.
Adult users on the Free and Go plans in markets where ads are live. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu users see no ads, users under 18 are excluded, and ads do not appear next to sensitive topics like personal health, mental health or politics.
You set your own budget, and there is no published minimum for self-serve beyond a daily campaign floor. Search Engine Journal reported early US bids of about $3 to $5 a click, though OpenAI publishes no official rates. Our management fee is separate and flat: from $1,500 a month on Starter and $3,500 on Growth.
Not yet for most brands. Google Ads captures people ready to buy and has years of benchmarks. ChatGPT ads reach people earlier, while they compare options, and the audience is less crowded. We usually recommend a test budget alongside Google, judged on cost per qualified lead or sale.
They can be, if you sell in a market where ads are live and can track conversions. A small business should start with one product or service, a modest test budget and CPC bidding. If you cannot measure leads or sales yet, fix that first, since otherwise you cannot tell if the test worked.
Probably not yet. OpenAI's ad policies do not mention crypto by name, but investment and brokerage services are restricted to the US and reviewed case by case. An exchange, token sale or DeFi product is likely to be treated the same way, so we check approval before planning any campaign.
With limits. Hospitals can apply in the US only, with proof of licensure, and high-risk procedures are prohibited. Real estate ads for individual listings, rentals or sales are banned, but brokerages and property platforms can advertise if the ad points to no specific listing.
More than 60, according to OpenAI. They include the US, Canada, the UK, 31 European markets, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, several Middle East markets, Singapore and Malaysia. Rules differ by country; financial and health ads, for example, are generally limited to the US.
Yes. We set up Ads Manager, the pixel and the Conversions API in your company's name and work in it with user access. If you stop working with us, the account, data and conversion history stay with you.
Tell us what you sell and where. We will check your category against OpenAI's policies, map the buyer conversations most likely to show your ads, review your tracking and send back a test budget for the markets that matter to you.