ChatGPT ads show early promise but skepticism remains among ad buyers

TL;DR

OpenAI expands ChatGPT ads to partners like StackAdapt amid price cuts up to 75% and high early engagement.
Pilot advertisers committed over $200,000 but spent as little as $2,000 due to limited inventory, targeting $2.5 billion revenue this year.
Ads show promise with incremental audiences and strong clicks, but buyers see it as experimental with scaling doubts.

The story at a glance

OpenAI is growing its ChatGPT ad program launched in February, adding partners like StackAdapt for programmatic buying and testing a self-serve ads manager. Ad buyers report positive engagement and new reach beyond Google, but limited inventory hampers spending. The article covers this now as OpenAI pushes for $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year from a recent $100 million run rate.[[1]](https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-chatgpt-openai-ads-early-promise-ad-buyers/)[[2]](https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-chatgpt-openai-ads-early-promise-ad-buyers)

Key points

Early pilot required $200,000+ commitments, but many advertisers spent under $2,000 because of scarce inventory opportunities.
CPMs started at $60 but fell to $15-$40 in less competitive categories via a basic auction, some cuts as deep as 75%.
Ads deliver high engagement competitive with Google brand search, plus incremental audiences where Google underperformed for some clients.
New features include product feeds for retailers, pixels for conversion tracking, and upcoming cost-per-click auctions by late April.
Partners now encompass StackAdapt DSP, Criteo as first major ad tech, and Smartly; self-serve ads manager speeds campaign activation.
OpenAI eyes $2.5 billion ad revenue in 2026 and $100 billion by 2030, called "extremely aggressive" by analysts needing massive user and product scaling.[[1]](https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-chatgpt-openai-ads-early-promise-ad-buyers/)

Details and context

ChatGPT ads target free and Go tier users, appearing as sponsored placements without influencing core answers or using conversation data for targeting. Agencies like those from holding companies joined early, drawn by potential in AI chats despite immature tools like manual insertion orders at launch.

Limited scale stems from controlled rollout: high entry barriers protected premium tiers, but now self-serve and partners ease access. Performance edges show in non-brand queries driving brand-like clicks, hinting at conversational AI's edge over traditional search.

Skepticism persists on revenue goals, as current delivery is "tempered" and full auctions/conversion tracking lag. Past coverage noted agencies rushing in despite measurement gaps, building to this expansion phase.[[3]](https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-openai-ads-brands-agencies)[[4]](https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-chatgpt-ads-start-agencies-interest)

Key quotes

“It’s going to take a little bit of time before revenue scales up to billions of dollars per year,” a top media executive at an agency holding company told Ad Age.[[1]](https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-chatgpt-openai-ads-early-promise-ad-buyers/)

“We’ve seen categories for some of our clients that haven’t performed historically on Google perform on ChatGPT, which indicates it’s incremental,” a digital media buyer said.[[1]](https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-chatgpt-openai-ads-early-promise-ad-buyers/)

Why it matters

ChatGPT ads test if conversational AI can grab a slice of the $500 billion+ digital ad market amid competition from Google and Meta. Advertisers gain a high-engagement channel for incremental reach, but limited inventory keeps budgets small and experimental for now. Watch for CPC rollout and spend ramps by late April, though $2.5 billion this year looks tough without faster scaling.[[1]](https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-chatgpt-openai-ads-early-promise-ad-buyers/)