How to Advertise on ChatGPT: A Complete Guide to ChatGPT Ads in 2026
08/21/2026
Marketing Services
A step-by-step 2026 guide to ChatGPT Ads — eligibility, pricing, campaign setup, and how to build ads around conversational intent instead of keywords.
ChatGPT advertising is officially here.
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What ChatGPT Ads Are, Who's Eligible, and Who Sees Them
Businesses in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand can now create campaigns through OpenAI Ads Manager Beta. Advertisers can choose campaign objectives, set budgets, define geographic targeting, create ads and track results such as impressions, clicks, spend and conversions.
But ChatGPT Ads are not simply another version of Google Search Ads. Instead of bidding on isolated keywords, advertisers use context hints to describe the conversations, needs and situations in which their products may be relevant. ChatGPT then matches eligible ads with conversational intent. This creates a potentially important new advertising channel: reaching people while they are actively researching products, comparing options, evaluating trade-offs and making decisions.
What Are ChatGPT Ads?
ChatGPT Ads are paid placements that can appear below ChatGPT responses when an eligible advertisement is relevant to the user's current conversation. The ad is visually separated from ChatGPT's answer and clearly identified as sponsored. According to OpenAI, advertising does not influence the answer ChatGPT provides, and advertisers cannot pay to change, shape or rank within an organic response.
That distinction is important: a ChatGPT ad is a paid placement presented separately from the answer. A ChatGPT citation or recommendation is part of ChatGPT's generated response. Paying for an ad does not guarantee that ChatGPT will mention or recommend the advertiser organically.
OpenAI began testing ads in the United States in February 2026. Its self-serve advertising platform has since expanded to additional countries, including Canada. OpenAI positions ChatGPT Ads as a way to reach people while they explore products, compare alternatives and make decisions through conversational interactions. OpenAI's advertising platform allows eligible businesses to create, launch and manage campaigns directly.
Can You Advertise on ChatGPT?
Yes. As of July 2026, OpenAI Ads Manager is available to advertisers in Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Availability is determined by the country associated with the advertiser's account. OpenAI may expand the list as the beta develops. OpenAI maintains a current list of supported advertiser countries.
Businesses in an eligible country can visit ads.openai.com to create an advertiser account. Access remains subject to business verification, advertiser eligibility, billing setup and OpenAI's advertising policies.
Who Sees Ads in ChatGPT?
Ads may currently appear to eligible users on ChatGPT Free and Go plans. OpenAI states that Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts do not receive ads. Ads are also excluded from accounts belonging to users who identify themselves, or are predicted by OpenAI, to be under 18.
During the current rollout: ads are clearly labelled as sponsored and visually separated from ChatGPT's answer; a single advertising unit may contain one or more products or advertisers; ads do not appear in Temporary Chats or the ChatGPT Atlas browser; ads are excluded from sensitive and regulated conversation contexts; and users can hide or report individual ads.
OpenAI says it does not share ChatGPT conversations, chat histories, memories, names, email addresses or personal details with advertisers. Advertisers receive aggregated performance reporting such as views and clicks. OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads FAQ explains current placement and privacy controls.
How ChatGPT Ads Work, How They Compare to Google Ads, and What They Cost
How Do ChatGPT Ads Work?
ChatGPT advertising is based on conversational context rather than traditional exact-match keyword targeting. When someone uses a search engine, they might enter "best carry-on luggage." A ChatGPT conversation may provide considerably more context: "I need a lightweight carry-on suitcase for a two-week trip to Europe. It needs to fit most international airline requirements, have durable wheels and cost less than $300."
That conversation communicates the product category, the intended use, the destination, the price range, the desired features, and the stage of the buying journey. ChatGPT Ads are designed to use this richer context to determine which eligible advertisement is most relevant.
If the user allows personalized advertising, additional signals may contribute to ad selection, including previous chats, memory and past interactions with ads. These signals remain within ChatGPT and are not given directly to advertisers. This makes ChatGPT advertising closer to intent matching than conventional demographic targeting.
ChatGPT Ads vs. Google Ads
ChatGPT Ads and Google Search Ads can both reach people demonstrating intent, but the intent is expressed differently.
| Google Search Ads | ChatGPT Ads |
|---|---|
| Primarily organized around search queries and keywords | Organized around conversational context and user needs |
| Advertisers build keyword lists and targeting structures | Advertisers provide context hints describing relevant conversations |
| Ads generally appear on a search results page | Ads can appear below a ChatGPT response |
| Search queries are often short | Conversations may reveal detailed requirements and trade-offs |
| Mature bidding, attribution and optimization systems | Newer beta platform with more limited historical data |
| Extensive existing inventory | Inventory depends on eligible ChatGPT users and conversations |
Google Ads remain a more mature performance channel. ChatGPT Ads, however, may offer access to people who are using AI as a decision-making assistant rather than a traditional search engine. The two channels should not necessarily be treated as replacements for one another. They can reach different moments within the customer journey.
How Much Do ChatGPT Ads Cost?
ChatGPT Ads currently support two campaign objectives: Views, which uses CPM pricing and optimizes for reach and visibility, and Clicks, which uses CPC pricing and optimizes for engagement and website traffic. Advertisers can choose either a daily budget or a campaign-total budget.
OpenAI currently identifies $25 per campaign as the minimum daily budget. It does not publish one universal CPC or CPM because actual costs can vary based on the campaign, available inventory, relevance and competition. Advertisers should be cautious about third-party articles claiming that every ChatGPT campaign requires a large minimum commitment or guaranteeing a particular CPM. OpenAI's self-serve platform and published documentation should be treated as the current source of truth.
Daily budgets are the amount the platform aims to spend each day, though OpenAI notes daily spend may fluctuate above or below the selected amount. For new advertisers, a daily budget provides more control while the team learns how frequently ads are delivered, which context areas generate impressions, which creative variations receive clicks, how traffic behaves after reaching the website, and whether the platform produces qualified conversions.
Campaign-total budgets establish the maximum amount the advertiser is prepared to spend over the campaign's duration. OpenAI notes that this is a total spending limit, not an even pacing guarantee. Spend may accumulate quickly if the ads match a large number of eligible conversations, so advertisers should monitor new campaigns closely instead of assuming the total will be distributed evenly.
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The 12-Step Process for Setting Up a ChatGPT Ads Campaign
How to Create ChatGPT Ads
All campaign setup and management currently takes place through OpenAI Ads Manager Beta. Here is how each stage works.
Step 1: Create an OpenAI Ads Manager Account
Visit ads.openai.com and sign in using an OpenAI account connected to your work email, or create a new account. You will be asked to provide your business name, website, industry, brand logo, advertiser country, currency, time zone, and billing details. Review the account country, currency and time zone carefully. OpenAI states that these settings cannot be changed after the advertiser account has been created. If you manage several client brands, each advertiser requires a separate advertiser account, though agencies can invite the same team members to multiple accounts after the accounts have been created.
Step 2: Complete Business Verification
OpenAI reviews advertiser applications before granting full platform access. Verification can include business information, website and industry review, identity verification through Persona, product and service eligibility, and consistency between the advertiser and its website. Completing identity verification does not necessarily mean the account is immediately approved. Avoid creating duplicate accounts to bypass the review queue, as OpenAI warns that duplicate or inconsistent applications may slow the process.
Step 3: Add Billing and Account Information
After the account is approved, complete the remaining account information in Ads Manager. Confirm that the account name and logo appear exactly as you want them displayed in the advertising unit. Campaigns cannot run until the required account and billing information is complete, including a billing profile, billing address, invoice email, and a supported payment method. One account owner should establish the advertiser account before inviting other users.
Step 4: Choose a Campaign Objective
A ChatGPT advertising campaign contains a campaign name, objective, budget, start and end dates, geographic targeting, one or more ad groups, and one or more ads. The objective determines how the campaign is priced and optimized.
Choose Views when the primary goal is awareness or visibility. These campaigns use CPM pricing, appropriate for brand launches, product introductions, awareness campaigns, reaching people researching a category, or establishing familiarity with a new solution.
Choose Clicks when the priority is driving users to a website or landing page. These campaigns use CPC pricing, appropriate for product pages, lead-generation pages, free trials, event registration, service inquiries, or promotional offers. Campaign objectives cannot currently be changed after creation, so create a new campaign if you need a different objective.
Step 5: Set Your Budget and Schedule
Choose between a daily budget and a campaign-total budget. For a first test, a daily budget generally provides better flexibility, allowing you to observe early delivery before committing a larger total amount. Your campaign schedule should provide enough time to gather meaningful information. Avoid evaluating a new channel after only a handful of impressions or one day of delivery. Begin with a controlled test, confirm measurement, and then increase spending based on performance.
Step 6: Choose Geographic Targeting
ChatGPT Ads support country-level campaign targeting. In the United States, advertisers may also be able to target supported states, designated market areas, ZIP codes, and other available locations. The targeting options available can differ by country, so search for the desired location inside Ads Manager to confirm whether it is supported. Create separate campaigns when regions have materially different offers, currencies, regulations, shipping availability, landing pages, customer economics, or advertising messages. This makes performance easier to interpret and prevents one region from consuming the majority of the campaign budget.
Step 7: Create Focused Ad Groups
Ad groups organize advertisements around a shared product, audience, theme or intent area. Each ad group includes a name and a set of context hints that describe the types of conversations in which the product or service may be useful. Context hints are not the same as exact-match keywords. They should describe needs, situations and conversation themes using natural language.
Weak context hints like "Branding," "Agency," "Website," or "Marketing" are too broad to communicate a meaningful situation. Stronger context hints describe a real need with additional context, such as "Founders comparing branding agencies for a consumer product launch" or "Marketing leaders looking for an agency that combines brand strategy and performance marketing."
OpenAI recommends keeping every ad group focused on one product category, theme or intent area. For an agency like The Branded Agency, for example, it would be better to create separate ad groups for brand strategy and positioning, Shopify website design, packaging design, paid-media management, and AI content systems. Combining every agency service in one ad group would weaken the contextual signal.
Step 8: Create Your ChatGPT Ad
A ChatGPT ad can include a title, description, image, landing-page URL, and tracking parameters. Unlike conventional display advertising, ChatGPT ad creative should feel relevant to the decision the user is making. OpenAI recommends making the advertisement clear, specific and focused on usefulness, communicating what the business offers, who it serves, when the product or service is relevant, what makes it useful, and where the user will go after clicking.
An example ChatGPT ad might use the title "Build a Stronger Brand Before You Scale" with the description "The Branded Agency combines positioning, identity, website design and performance marketing to help consumer brands grow with clarity," linking to a dedicated branding or agency-services page rather than the general homepage. The message is clear about the service, audience and outcome, and does not rely on a vague phrase such as "Transform Your Future."
Step 9: Create Multiple Advertising Variations
Do not rely on one title and one description. OpenAI recommends creating a diverse set of advertising variations so the system can match different messages with different conversational situations. Variations should test genuinely different value propositions, such as category expertise, business outcome, methodology, proof or experience, speed, service model, customer type, or a specific problem. Avoid changing only one or two words while keeping the same underlying message.
Step 10: Use a Relevant Landing Page
The advertisement should link to the page most closely connected to its promise. If the advertisement promotes packaging design, link to a packaging-design service page. If it promotes Shopify development, link to a Shopify or e-commerce page. Avoid sending every ad to the homepage.
A strong ChatGPT Ads landing page should continue the message used in the advertisement, answer the likely questions behind the conversation, explain the service clearly, include relevant proof, establish credibility, provide a direct next step, load quickly on mobile, and use appropriate conversion tracking. OpenAI permits advertisers to add their own UTM parameters to destination URLs, and advertisers must ensure their landing pages do not block OpenAI's OAI-AdsBot or OAI-SearchBot user agents.
Step 11: Submit the Campaign for Review
OpenAI reviews the advertiser, ad title and description, images and media, landing page, product or service category, and the consistency of the entire advertising experience. An otherwise acceptable advertisement can be rejected if its landing page contains prohibited content. Most reviews use automated systems with human oversight, and restricted or higher-risk categories may require additional verification or manual review.
Step 12: Monitor ChatGPT Ad Performance
After approval, confirm that the campaign is serving and begin monitoring results. OpenAI Ads Manager currently reports metrics including impressions, clicks, spend, click-through rate, average cost per click, average cost per thousand impressions, and conversions when configured. Performance can be viewed at the campaign, ad-group and individual-ad levels, and advertisers can also analyze charts and export CSV reports.
Eligibility, Restrictions, Best Practices, and Whether ChatGPT Ads Are Worth Testing
What Products Can Be Advertised on ChatGPT?
During the current rollout, OpenAI is primarily supporting consumer categories such as household and consumer goods, lifestyle products, local services, travel and experiences, entertainment, digital products, and education. OpenAI may approve certain financial services, healthcare, medical and other regulated advertisers in limited circumstances, particularly in the United States, though these categories may require licensing, additional verification and individual review.
OpenAI's current policies prohibit or restrict several categories, including political advertising, gambling, tobacco and vaping, alcohol, intoxicating cannabis and psychedelic products, weapons, adult content and dating services, unsupported wellness or medical claims, deceptive financial products, legal services, counterfeit products, and scams and fraudulent offers. Policies apply to the complete experience, including the creative, imagery, offer and landing page. Review the latest OpenAI advertising policies before creating a campaign because eligibility can change as the platform develops.
Where ChatGPT Ads Cannot Appear
OpenAI does not allow advertisements next to sensitive or inappropriate conversations. Restricted contexts include personal or mental health, emotionally vulnerable situations, politics and contested social issues, self-harm, dangerous activities, fraud, hate or harassment, graphic violence, sexual content, regulated goods, weapons, privacy violations, and misinformation. This reduces the available inventory but is intended to protect users and advertisers from inappropriate placements.
ChatGPT Ads Best Practices
Build around intent, not keywords. Think about the conversation someone would have before needing your product. A luggage company should go beyond "suitcases" and consider international carry-on requirements, luggage for business travel, or durable suitcases for frequent flyers.
Keep each ad group focused. Do not combine unrelated products or services. Focused ad groups create clearer context signals and more useful reporting.
Make the value proposition obvious. Users should understand what is being offered without decoding a clever headline.
Create genuinely different ads. Test separate arguments, customer needs and use cases, not minor rewrites of the same message.
Match ads with dedicated landing pages. The transition from conversation to advertisement to landing page should feel coherent.
Track downstream quality. Clicks alone do not determine whether the channel works. Track engaged sessions, product views, lead quality, add-to-cart actions, purchases, revenue, cost per acquisition, and customer lifetime value.
Start with controlled testing. ChatGPT Ads are still in beta. Begin with a test budget, validate tracking and expand based on actual business results.
Are ChatGPT Ads Worth Testing?
ChatGPT Ads are most compelling for businesses whose customers conduct meaningful research before purchasing. Potentially strong categories include consumer products with clear points of comparison, travel and hospitality, education and online learning, business software, professional and local services, home products, technology, considered purchases, and products that solve a clearly expressed problem.
The opportunity is not simply ChatGPT's audience size. It is the depth of intent contained in a conversation. Someone asking ChatGPT to compare products, identify trade-offs or recommend a solution may be further into the decision process than someone casually browsing social media.
However, ChatGPT Ads should still be treated as an emerging channel. Advertisers should expect less historical benchmark data, evolving policies and features, new measurement standards, changing inventory, limited targeting compared with established platforms, and a period of experimentation. The best early advertisers will approach the platform with curiosity and discipline rather than assuming it will immediately outperform Google or Meta.
ChatGPT Ads and GEO Are Not the Same Thing
Advertising on ChatGPT does not improve a brand's organic ranking or cause ChatGPT to recommend the advertiser. Paid and organic visibility require separate strategies. ChatGPT Ads are paid placements displayed separately from the answer. Generative Engine Optimization is the process of making a brand easier for AI systems to understand, verify and cite through clear website content, structured information, third-party coverage, digital PR, authoritative backlinks, consistent company details, expert content, relevant product information, and credible reviews and mentions. A complete AI visibility strategy may include both paid ChatGPT Ads and organic GEO. The two approaches can support the same business goal, but they operate independently.
The Future of Advertising on ChatGPT
ChatGPT advertising represents a larger change in how brands may reach customers. Traditional paid search is built around short queries. Social advertising uses audience profiles and behavioural signals. Conversational advertising introduces another layer: detailed, real-time expressions of needs, constraints and decision criteria.
The brands that succeed will not simply transfer their Google keyword lists into ChatGPT. They will learn to understand how customers describe problems conversationally, which questions appear before a purchase, what information reduces uncertainty, which trade-offs matter most, where the brand provides genuine utility, and how to make an advertisement helpful without imitating an organic answer. This will require closer cooperation between paid-media specialists, brand strategists, customer researchers, copywriters and conversion teams.
FAQ
Can businesses advertise on ChatGPT? Yes. OpenAI Ads Manager Beta is currently available to eligible advertisers in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.
How do I create a ChatGPT ad? Create an account at ads.openai.com, complete verification and billing, select a campaign objective, set your budget and targeting, create ad groups with context hints, add your ads and submit the campaign for review.
What is the minimum budget for ChatGPT Ads? OpenAI currently lists a minimum daily budget of $25 per campaign. Advertisers can use either daily or campaign-total budgets.
Are ChatGPT Ads based on keywords? Not in the same way as conventional search advertising. Advertisers provide context hints describing relevant conversation types, needs, situations and topics rather than exact-match keywords.
Where do ChatGPT Ads appear? Ads can appear below the end of a ChatGPT response when there is a relevant match. They are labelled as sponsored and visually separated from the answer.
Do ChatGPT Ads affect ChatGPT's answers? No. OpenAI states that advertisements are separate from ChatGPT's answers and that advertisers cannot pay to influence, rank or alter the response.
Can advertisers see ChatGPT conversations? No. OpenAI says advertisers do not receive users' chats, chat histories, memories, names, emails, precise locations or other personal information. Advertisers receive aggregated performance information.
Which ChatGPT users see ads? Ads may appear to eligible users on Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts are ad-free.
Can Canadian businesses advertise on ChatGPT? Yes. Canada is currently listed as an available country for OpenAI Ads Manager.
Can an agency manage ChatGPT Ads for clients? Yes. Each advertiser requires its own account. After an advertiser account is established, team members and agency users can be invited to access it.
Can CBD or cannabis companies advertise on ChatGPT? OpenAI currently prohibits ads promoting intoxicating cannabis, THC products and psychedelic substances. Some non-intoxicating hemp-derived products may be considered when they do not promote intoxicating use, but eligibility remains subject to policy review.
Is ChatGPT advertising better than Google Ads? It is too early to make a universal claim. ChatGPT Ads offer conversational context, while Google Ads provide mature search inventory, targeting and measurement. Performance will depend on the product, campaign and quality of execution.
Final Thoughts
ChatGPT Ads give businesses a new way to reach customers during research and decision-making conversations. The platform's greatest potential is not simply another advertising placement. It is the ability to align a relevant product or service with a detailed expression of customer intent.
Success will require advertisers to move beyond conventional keyword thinking. Strong campaigns will use focused ad groups, descriptive context hints, clear creative, relevant landing pages and accurate conversion tracking. ChatGPT advertising is still evolving, but businesses now have an opportunity to learn the platform while competition and established best practices are still developing.
At The Branded Agency, we combine paid-media strategy, brand positioning, creative development and conversion optimization to help businesses build campaigns that are both relevant and effective. Contact The Branded Agency to discuss whether ChatGPT Ads should be part of your paid-media strategy.
Quincy Samycia
As entrepreneurs, they’ve built and scaled their own ventures from zero to millions. They’ve been in the trenches, navigating the chaos of high-growth phases, making the hard calls, and learning firsthand what actually moves the needle. That’s what makes us different—we don’t just “consult,” we know what it takes because we’ve done it ourselves.
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