OpenAI’s ChatGPT advertising business has reportedly crossed a $1 billion annualised revenue run rate in less than 200 days, marking a major milestone for the company as it expands its advertising platform into new international markets.
The rapid growth comes as OpenAI broadens access to ChatGPT Ads Manager, allowing businesses in India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa to create and manage advertising campaigns without having to rely on OpenAI’s managed sales teams or agency partners.
The move signals a significant shift in the way businesses can reach consumers through AI-powered conversations. Rather than appearing on a traditional search results page, advertisements on ChatGPT are designed to appear alongside conversations where users are already researching products, services, careers, purchases and other decisions.
ChatGPT Ads Business Reaches $1 Billion Run Rate
OpenAI says ChatGPT Ads has reached an annualised revenue run rate of $1 billion in fewer than 200 days since the advertising business began scaling.
The platform is now being used by tens of thousands of advertisers, while ChatGPT Ads is available in more than 40 countries through OpenAI’s advertising team and its network of agency and technology partners.
The company has also expanded its advertising ecosystem to more than 50 technology and measurement partners. This includes tools designed to help advertisers measure conversions, optimise campaigns and connect advertising activity with business outcomes.
The milestone highlights how quickly advertising around generative AI is developing. ChatGPT has evolved from an AI chatbot into a platform used for research, product discovery, planning and decision-making, creating a potentially valuable environment for advertisers.
OpenAI Expands ChatGPT Ads Manager to India and Other Regions
One of the biggest changes announced by OpenAI is the expansion of self-service advertising through Ads Manager.
Businesses in India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa can now access Ads Manager and launch campaigns without first going through OpenAI’s managed-sales operation or an agency partner.
Previously, advertisers in these regions generally had to use managed or partner-led channels to access ChatGPT Ads.
The self-service model is particularly important for small and medium-sized businesses. Instead of requiring a dedicated advertising relationship, companies can create campaigns directly through the platform and manage their advertising activity themselves.
OpenAI introduced Ads Manager in May as part of its effort to make ChatGPT advertising more accessible to a wider range of businesses.
According to the company, small and medium-sized businesses already represent a meaningful portion of advertising revenue. Advertisers outside the United States are also becoming an increasingly important part of the platform’s overall business.
Why ChatGPT Could Become a New Advertising Channel
Traditional digital advertising often relies on users actively searching for information and then selecting an advertisement from a list of results.
ChatGPT offers a different environment.
People often enter a conversation with a specific problem or decision already in mind. They may be comparing products, planning a home renovation, researching a career change, looking for software or considering a major purchase.
OpenAI’s advertising strategy is built around this behaviour.
Instead of presenting ads as a separate list of search results, ChatGPT Ads can be placed within the broader context of a conversation. The objective is to show commercially relevant suggestions when a user is already exploring a particular topic.
This could make conversational AI an increasingly important channel for companies looking to reach consumers at the research and decision-making stage.
How ChatGPT Advertising Targeting Works
OpenAI’s advertising system uses the context of the ongoing ChatGPT conversation to determine which advertisements may be relevant.
For example, if a user is discussing travel plans, home improvement or a potential purchase, the advertising system can use the subject of the conversation to identify relevant advertising opportunities.
In some markets and depending on user settings, targeting can also take into account broader ChatGPT usage and interests that users have agreed to share for advertising personalisation.
OpenAI says its advertising system is designed around several principles intended to maintain user trust.
Advertisements are clearly labelled, and they remain separate from ChatGPT’s answers. The company also states that advertisers do not receive access to users’ private conversations.
OpenAI further maintains that advertising does not determine or influence the answers generated by ChatGPT.
These distinctions are important as conversational advertising becomes more common. Users may be more sensitive to advertising inside an AI conversation because the interaction can feel significantly more personal than traditional search or social media advertising.
Advertisers Get More Advanced Campaign Tools
The growth of ChatGPT Ads has also been accompanied by the introduction of more advanced advertising and measurement features.
OpenAI says cost-per-click (CPC) and outcome-optimised bidding now account for most campaigns running on the platform.
Advertisers can also use tools such as the Pixel and Conversions API to send conversion information back to the advertising platform. These integrations can help businesses understand whether ChatGPT-generated traffic results in actions such as purchases, registrations or other conversions.
Another major development is the introduction of product feeds.
With product feeds, businesses can connect catalogue information to their advertising campaigns. This gives advertisers a way to keep product information connected to campaigns while improving the relevance of ads shown to potential customers.
Advertisers can also use platform and geographic targeting to narrow campaigns based on devices or locations. Custom audience capabilities allow businesses to work with existing customer lists.
Together, these features make ChatGPT Ads increasingly resemble the advertising infrastructure offered by established digital advertising platforms.
Early Advertiser Results Show Commercial Potential
OpenAI has highlighted examples suggesting that advertisers are already seeing measurable results from ChatGPT campaigns.
According to the company, one ecommerce advertiser generated a 3x return on advertising spend (ROAS) over a 28-day campaign period.
Separately, a technology partner reported that more than 80% of traffic generated through ChatGPT advertising came from new customers.
These figures come from company and partner claims rather than independently verified industry-wide research, but they illustrate why advertisers are paying increasing attention to AI platforms.
For businesses, the key question is no longer simply whether people use ChatGPT. It is whether those users can be converted into customers.
European Expansion Comes With Greater Regulatory Scrutiny
While OpenAI is expanding its advertising operations across Europe, the company is also facing increased regulatory oversight in the region.
The European Commission has designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) under the European Union’s Digital Services Act, or DSA.
The designation follows ChatGPT meeting the EU’s threshold for very large services, which is based on average monthly users in the European Union.
The European Commission has said OpenAI will have additional obligations under the DSA, including requirements related to identifying and mitigating systemic risks associated with the service and its algorithmic systems.
These risks include the spread of illegal content, potential effects on minors, risks to physical and mental wellbeing, protection of fundamental rights, electoral processes and public security.
The EU’s classification is particularly significant because ChatGPT combines conversational AI capabilities with web-search functionality. Regulators therefore treat it as a hybrid service that can fall under the DSA’s search-engine framework.
The European Commission will oversee the service alongside Ireland’s Digital Services Coordinator, as OpenAI’s European operations are based in Ireland.
What Comes Next for ChatGPT Ads?
OpenAI’s $1 billion annualised revenue milestone suggests that advertising could become an important part of the company’s long-term business strategy.
The expansion into India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa significantly increases the potential advertiser base, while the self-service model could make the platform more accessible to smaller companies.
OpenAI also says it plans to introduce additional advertising formats, campaign objectives, buying options and measurement capabilities.
The company has indicated that it is exploring more native ways for businesses to interact with consumers within ChatGPT. However, details about these future advertising experiences have not yet been fully disclosed.
For now, the biggest development is clear: ChatGPT Ads is moving beyond an experimental advertising channel and becoming a global commercial platform.
With tens of thousands of advertisers, growing international adoption and a reported $1 billion annualised revenue run rate in under 200 days, OpenAI is positioning ChatGPT as a new destination for digital advertising.
The next challenge will be balancing commercial growth with user trust, advertising transparency and increasingly strict regulatory requirements—particularly as ChatGPT becomes more deeply integrated into how people search, research and make everyday decisions.
Discover more from AiTechtonic - AI & Informative News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.