ChatGPT Ads in 2026: How to Advertise on ChatGPT with OpenAI Ads Manager

To advertise on ChatGPT, sign up for OpenAI Ads Manager Beta at ads.openai.com, add billing, then build a campaign (objective, budget, countries), ad groups (max bid, context hints) and ads (title, copy, image, landing page). Self-serve is open in 89 countries. You pay per 1,000 impressions or per valid click, never per conversion.

Choosing the angles is where most teams get stuck, since OpenAI asks for distinct ones per offer and a new channel gives you no history to go on. Segwise is an AI creative analytics and creative generation platform that tags the ads you already run on networks like Meta, TikTok and Google, so you can see which messages win there before you write your ChatGPT variants. Segwise doesn't connect to ChatGPT Ads itself.

ChatGPT Ads is still a beta, and OpenAI says formats, buying options and delivery will keep changing, so treat this as a snapshot and check the linked pages before you launch.

TL;DR

• If you are deciding whether to test: self-serve works if the legal entity you bill is in one of 89 listed countries and your product sits in an allowed category. OpenAI publishes no CPM or CPC benchmarks yet, and says it has no performance benchmarks across advertisers.
• If you buy on clicks: OpenAI recommends starting with a $3 to $5 maximum CPC. The minimum daily budget in the US is $25, and a daily budget is an average over a Sunday to Saturday week, so one day can spend up to twice it.
• If you run apps: seven MMPs connect today (Adjust, Airbridge, AppsFlyer, Branch, Kochava, Singular and Tenjin), and app attribution is click-based. You can target the ChatGPT iOS and Android apps separately from web.
• If you sell products online: product feed campaigns are built for broad catalogs, and OpenAI says feed ads have been among the strongest performers in its program so far.
• If you write the ads: OpenAI asks for many distinct title and copy angles per offer. Since October 30, 2026, creative enhancements that rewrite, translate and resize your ads are on by default unless you opt out.

What are ChatGPT ads?

ChatGPT ads are sponsored units that appear below ChatGPT's answers. According to OpenAI's Ads in ChatGPT basics page, each ad shows your advertiser name, a favicon (your logo), a title, a description, an image and a landing page.

OpenAI picks which ad to show based on "expected relevance and outcomes". The signals it names are the context and intent of the conversation, your landing page, title and copy, the context hints you write, and, when the user has ads personalization on, select signals from their wider ChatGPT use. Ads are labeled and kept separate from the answer, and OpenAI says ads do not influence what ChatGPT answers.

The program started as a US test on February 9, 2026, per OpenAI's post Testing ads in ChatGPT. That post was updated on March 26 (announcing pilots in Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and on August 11, 2026, when OpenAI said ChatGPT Ads had launched in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea. OpenAI's own FAQ describes the current stage as a beta in "the early stages of scaling", after a pilot that ran from February through April.

OpenAI has also announced a separate test of image-led ads, shown to US Free and Go users while ChatGPT generates an image they asked for. Our breakdown of ChatGPT visual ads covers what OpenAI said about that test and when.

Who can access OpenAI Ads Manager?

Any business can create an account, but self-serve buying depends on where the business is based. OpenAI's Ads Manager availability page lists 89 countries as "Available" for self-serve, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Singapore and the UAE. The rule that matters: "the legal entity that will advertise and be billed must be based in a country listed as available."

Three access details catch new advertisers:

• Some European markets also have assisted onboarding. The same page says advertisers in "the new European markets can currently get started through the OpenAI Ads Solutions team, agency partners, or technology partners." It doesn't name which markets count as new, and the European countries on the list, such as Germany, France, Spain and Italy, are marked "Available" for self-serve.
• New accounts may be held to their home country at first. OpenAI's campaign creation guide says some new self-serve accounts can only advertise in the country tied to the account. They become eligible for other supported countries once identity verification is approved and they reach a required spend in their home country. Picking other countries in the campaign does not override this.
• Large advertisers can ask for sales support. The availability page offers a form for "larger advertisers with more complex needs".

Your category matters as much as your country. The ad policies say that during the early phase OpenAI is "focused on a limited set of consumer categories, including household and consumer goods, local services, travel and entertainment, and digital products and education." Financial, health and legal advertisers face extra rules, covered in the policy section below.

How do I advertise on ChatGPT? Step by step

OpenAI's account setup guide and quickstart describe the same path. Here it is in order.

1. Check that your country is self-serve on the availability list. If it isn't, you can still sign up and OpenAI will notify you when it opens.
2. Sign up at ads.openai.com with the OpenAI login you use for ChatGPT. You can enter your website URL and let Ads Manager draft your first ad and campaign during signup, or skip straight into Ads Manager. Before you submit, check your country, currency and time zone: OpenAI says these "cannot be changed after account creation."
3. Set up billing and verification. Add a billing profile (business name, address, invoice email) and a credit card. Billing must be complete before anything delivers. Business verification can take "up to 7 Business days", per OpenAI's onboarding troubleshooting page, and some accounts can start delivering before extra verification is requested at a spend threshold.
4. Create the campaign. Each campaign has a title, objective, budget, start and end dates, target countries, and optional platform and custom audience settings. You cannot change the objective later; you create a new campaign instead.
5. Add ad groups and ads. Each ad group carries the max bid and context hints. Each ad carries the title, copy, image and landing page. You can build campaigns one by one in the guided flow, or in bulk with OpenAI's CSV template (bulk upload doesn't create product feed campaigns). An account can hold up to 5,000 campaigns, 5,000 ad groups and 5,000 ads.
6. Set up conversion measurement with the OpenAI Pixel, the Conversions API or a measurement partner, as covered in the measurement section below.
7. Submit for review and check delivery. Ads must pass review before they serve. OpenAI suggests waiting at least 24 hours after launch before reporting a zero-delivery problem.

One trap to know about: for your very first campaign, start and end date fields may not appear before you publish. OpenAI warns, "don't publish the campaign just to access these settings," because the ads could start running before you set a schedule. The same applies to ads drafted during signup: "Your ads will go live once they pass review."

Teams can also manage accounts in natural language. OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads Manager plugin works from ChatGPT or Codex to draft ads, make changes you approve, analyze results and run scheduled reviews. Those reviews are recommendation-only, and billing, identity and appeals stay in Ads Manager. For how AI copilots fit into a performance team's wider workflow, see our guide to the AI copilot for performance marketing.

How much do ChatGPT ads cost?

OpenAI does not publish an average CPM or CPC, and its FAQ says ChatGPT Ads "does not yet have performance benchmarks across advertisers, industries, or campaign types." What OpenAI does publish is the buying model, a recommended starting bid and the budget rules.

The pricing model. You choose one of three objectives, and it sets how you're billed, per OpenAI's billing page:

Ads are selected through what OpenAI calls "a relevance-weighted, second-price auction", so your ad's relevance counts alongside your bid. For CPC campaigns, OpenAI recommends starting with a maximum bid of $3 to $5 USD per click, and Ads Manager may show bid-strength guidance. For conversion campaigns, OpenAI says there is "no recommended bid amount at this time." The Conversions objective needs working Pixel or Conversions API tracking and a standard event; custom events aren't supported for it.

Budgets and pacing. Each campaign takes either a campaign-total budget or a daily budget. A daily budget is not a daily cap. OpenAI's daily budgets page defines it as an average over a Sunday to Saturday week in your account's time zone. On any one day, spend can reach twice the daily budget, and over the week it can't exceed seven times it. The standard minimum in the US is $25 a day, and other currencies have their own minimums (for example 15 GBP or 15 EUR). With fixed bidding, the daily budget must also be at least your highest effective bid. Campaign-total budgets are paced over your end date (up to 365 days) or a default 60 days if there is no end date, per the budget pacing page.

Billing. ChatGPT Ads is postpay. Self-serve card accounts are charged each time unpaid spend reaches a payment threshold, and again at month end. OpenAI's example starts at a $25 threshold that rises with successful payments, and support won't change it for you. A threshold is not a budget or a spend cap. Pausing doesn't stop billing instantly: ads "may continue to appear for up to 24 hours," and that spend is billable.

Worked example (rule of thumb, our math on OpenAI's rules). Say you run a Clicks campaign with a $50 daily budget and a $4 max CPC, the middle of OpenAI's suggested range. Your weekly ceiling is $350, and no single day can pass $100. Because $4 is your maximum, a fully spent week buys at least 87 clicks. If 5% of those clicks convert, that is roughly 4 conversions a week, which is too few to judge a creative. So plan on two or three full budget weeks before you call a winner, or raise the budget.

What ad formats can you run on ChatGPT?

There are four ways to put ads in front of ChatGPT users today, plus an automatic rewriting feature you should decide on before launch.

Single-image and multi-image ads. These are the standard format for Views, Clicks and Conversions campaigns. OpenAI's guide to creating ads opens with the newest change: "Starting Monday, October 26, 2026, we're introducing the multi-image ad format in Ads Manager as an open beta." A single-image ad takes one image. A multi-image ad takes 4 to 6 square (1:1) images, every image links to the same URL, and "Learn more" is the only button for now. OpenAI's launch guide recommends titles of 16 to 24 characters (50 maximum) and copy of 32 to 48 characters (100 maximum), with square PNG or JPG images no larger than 1200 by 1200.

Product feed campaigns. Retailers can upload a catalog by CSV, hosted URL or SFTP, filter products into ad groups and run ads that show product images, titles, star ratings, prices and sale prices. OpenAI's product feeds guide says feed ads "have been among the strongest-performing ads in our program to date." Two catches: feed items expire after 2 weeks, so automate uploads, and new feed campaigns target only at country level.

Sponsored Agents. These let people open a chat with an AI representative of a business from an ad. OpenAI's Sponsored Agents page says they are "currently available only to selected advertisers in a limited alpha test," and it isn't taking early access requests.

Suggested ad drafts. Ads Manager may offer to prefill new ads from your website's metadata. OpenAI says this "does not generate new copy or imagery with AI."

Creative enhancements are now on by default. OpenAI's creative enhancements page says: "Starting Friday, October 30, 2026, creative enhancements will be enabled automatically for new and existing campaigns." Enhancements can rewrite headlines and descriptions to fit the conversation, translate your ad text, resize images and point the click to a different page on your site. They can run "without requiring you to review or approve each version," and there's no preview of every variation. If you're in a regulated category or have strict claims rules, check Manage settings in Ads Manager before launch. Earlier opt-outs carry over, and campaign settings override the account default.

How to write for it. OpenAI's advice is to "build for coverage": several title and copy variations per offer, each with "a different angle rather than repeating the same message," written to explain practical value. That's closer to writing search ad variants than a single social hook. If your team drafts copy with prompts, our ChatGPT prompts for Facebook ads work as a starting point, as long as each variant carries its own angle.

Find angles that already win: Segwise lets you see which hooks and messages hold up across Meta, TikTok and Google, so you can write them as separate ChatGPT variants. Start a free trial.

How does ChatGPT ads targeting work?

There are no keyword bids or exact-match keywords. Matching runs on the conversation, your ad and landing page, and the hints you give. The controls you have:

• Context hints (ad group). Describe "the conversations, topics, or keywords where their products or services may be relevant." OpenAI says these "are not exact-match keywords and do not guarantee delivery."
• Location (campaign). Countries, plus states, cities, markets and postal codes where available. To target only the US, you must include the US; excluding other countries isn't enough.
• Platform (campaign). Android app, Android web, desktop web, iOS app and iOS web, also available as a reporting breakdown.
• Custom audiences (campaign). Upload emails, phone numbers, SHA-256 hashes or Google Advertising IDs. Per OpenAI's custom audiences guide, inclusion targeting needs at least 25,000 matched users (OpenAI recommends 100,000), while smaller lists work for exclusions. Avoid custom audiences in campaigns targeting the EEA or Switzerland, where ads personalization is unavailable.
• Audience bid adjustments (ad group). Raise or lower your max bid from 0.1x to 10x for people in a custom audience, such as past buyers.
• Negative Phrases. Available to "qualifying advertisers, not necessarily every advertiser" for brand-specific placement exclusions.

OpenAI's campaign documentation describes no interest, age or lookalike targeting. OpenAI's February post also promised "guardrails to prevent narrow ads targeting."

How are ChatGPT ads measured?

Ads Manager reports impressions, clicks, spend, CTR, average CPC, average CPM and conversions at campaign, ad group and ad level. Impressions and clicks refresh about every 15 minutes, spend lags 7 to 8 hours, and conversions can take 24 to 48 hours, per OpenAI's Measure Results page.

Conversion tracking. You send events through the OpenAI Pixel, the Conversions API or both, using the same event ID so OpenAI can deduplicate. OpenAI appends a click reference called oppref to your landing page URL. Keep it through redirects and pass it in server-side events. OpenAI's conversion measurement guide adds automatic advanced matching (hashed form data, SHA-256 in the browser) and says totals may include modeled conversions where available.

Attribution windows. Choose a 7, 14 or 30-day click window and a 0 or 1-day view window. OpenAI says this uses "last-touch attribution logic and is not multi-touch attribution," and changing windows affects reporting only, not bidding or billing.

Mobile measurement partners (MMPs). OpenAI's MMP integration guide names seven: Adjust, Airbridge, AppsFlyer, Branch, Kochava, Singular and Tenjin. Each needs your Pixel ID and Conversions API key from Ads Manager, and you put the partner's tracking link in the ad. App attribution "is click-based." Your MMP's attribution windows live in the MMP, and Ads Manager keeps its own, so expect the two to disagree. If you're still choosing an MMP, our mobile measurement partner guide compares them.

Other measurement partners. OpenAI's measurement partner page lists Fospha, Hightouch, INCRMNTAL, LiveRamp, Northbeam, Rockerbox, Triple Whale and WorkMagic, plus Stape and Datahash for Pixel and Conversions API setup. Most connect with an Ads Manager API key.

UTMs and macros. Static UTM parameters persist on clicks. Ads Manager also fills {campaign_id}, {ad_group_id}, {ad_id} and {ad_account_id} at delivery time, which makes joining ChatGPT clicks to your own analytics much easier.

What can't you advertise on ChatGPT?

OpenAI's ad policies (last updated September 10, 2026) set out what can run. The main rules:

• Not allowed now: adult content and dating apps, alcohol and tobacco, gambling with real money, recreational drugs, political content, counterfeit goods, unsubstantiated wellness claims (such as diet pills and detox programs), and listings for individual vacancies or homes.
• Case by case, US only: approved financial services (cards, loans, insurance, brokerages and more) and some health services. These may need proof of license. Financial and health ads outside the US are generally prohibited.
• Legal services, US only: permitted only when the advertiser is licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction where the ad is shown. Legal services ads outside the US are prohibited.
• Allowed with conditions for games: digital games with no real-money wagering or cash prizes may be allowed, and M-rated games may be advertised if the creative and landing page aren't explicit or graphic. Stylized or cartoon violence without gore may also pass.
• Baseline rules for everyone: no misleading claims, no imitating ChatGPT's interface, and the full path must stay consistent (a food delivery ad can't land on alcohol delivery).
• Your landing page must be reachable: don't block OpenAI's OAI-AdsBot crawler, which reviews landing pages. OpenAI also recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot.

Review is mostly automated, with escalation to humans, and continues after approval. If you think a rejection is wrong, use the appeal or Request Review option in Ads Manager.

Which ChatGPT users see ads, and what stays private?

Ads appear for logged-in adults on the Free and Go tiers. OpenAI's basics page says: "We do not show ads to users on Plus, Pro, or any Business plan, or to any accounts identified as belonging to users under 18." The February launch post also lists Enterprise and Education as ad-free. Free users who don't want ads can opt out in exchange for fewer daily free messages, or upgrade.

On privacy, OpenAI says advertisers "do not have access to your chats, chat history, memories, or personal details" and receive only aggregate results such as views and clicks. Users can dismiss ads, see why they got one, delete their ad data and turn off ads personalization.

Sensitive conversations are excluded. The ad policies keep ads away from mental and personal health conversations, emotionally reliant chats, suicide and self-harm, political content and a long list of other categories. One change since launch: OpenAI's January and February posts said ads wouldn't appear near health topics, but policy version 1.1 (April 2026) says "medical, legal, and financial advice contexts are no longer categorically blocked from ads by default." Sensitive personal health conversations remain off limits.

Should you test ChatGPT ads now? A decision rule

ChatGPT Ads is a young channel with no published benchmarks, so treat it as a test budget, not a core line. A simple rule of thumb: test it when at least 3 of these 4 are true.

1. Your billing entity is in a self-serve country and your category is allowed there.
2. People ask ChatGPT questions your product answers ("best budgeting app", "gift for a runner"), so context hints have something to match.
3. You can send conversions through the Pixel, the Conversions API or one of the seven supported MMPs before launch.
4. You can fund at least $50 a day for two full Sunday to Saturday weeks, enough for roughly 175 clicks at a $4 max CPC.

If only 1 or 2 are true, wait. Join the updates list on openai.com/advertisers and work on your measurement path first.

OpenAI asks for distinct angles per offer, and your best evidence for which angles work is already sitting in Meta, TikTok and Google. Segwise doesn't list ChatGPT Ads among its connectors today, so keep ChatGPT reporting in Ads Manager exports. Use Segwise Creative Analytics on the networks you already run to find the hooks and messages that hold up across channels, then write those as separate ChatGPT title and copy variants. If Meta is your largest channel, our guide to scaling Meta ads in 2026 covers how to read creative data and tagging on Meta. ecobee, which runs paid media across six platforms, says its marketing team saves up to 30 hours a week on creative reporting with Segwise (customer-reported).

How to start advertising on ChatGPT this month

ChatGPT ads are bought in OpenAI Ads Manager Beta on CPM, CPC or conversion-optimized bidding, in 89 self-serve countries, with no pay-per-conversion option and no published price benchmarks. The single best next step is to check the availability list and the ad policies for your category, then set up the Pixel, Conversions API or your MMP before you spend anything. Start with a Clicks campaign at a $3 to $5 max CPC, several distinct title and copy angles, and a decision on creative enhancements. Judge it on conversions after two full budget weeks, not on day-one spend.