There has been a significant shift from traditional search engines to conversational AI, amidst the rise of platforms like ChatGPT. This move hasn’t gone unnoticed by advertisers, who see new, lucrative opportunities to target the masses.
With sponsored ads now appearing in US ChatGPT searches as of February 2026 and confirmation that they will be piloted in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea soon, brands will need to ready their advertising strategies accordingly.
Read on for our guide for early adopters of ChatGPT advertising and how you can prepare for the next era of paid media.
What are ChatGPT ads?
Sponsored ads in ChatGPT allow businesses to gain placements in user conversations, and were initially shown to US adult users using the Free and Go subscription tiers. As of May 2026, ads are now also shown to those in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. ChatGPT ads are not shown to users on Plus, Pro, or any Business plans, or those who are detected to be under 18.
While ads are integrated into responses, they are clearly labeled from traditional answers. Often found below the response, it provides personalised promoted recommendations based on the initial prompt.
ChatGPT decides which ad to show by matching the ads with those submitted by advertisers. It considers the topic of conversation, past chats, and past interactions with ads for a tailored experience; however, advertisers cannot access private chats.
But what about consumer appetites for AI advertising, we hear you ask? Well, last year, 66% of UK pollsters said they were open to sponsored ads, provided they kept platforms free, while 21% said they’d pay to remove them, according to a 2025 YouGOV poll.
Why is OpenAI introducing advertising?
Running AI systems is expensive, and so the OpenAI ads trial was introduced to help keep Free and low-cost subscription tiers fast and accessible for many. This was stated in their initial announcement in February 2026:
Our goal is for ads to support broader access to more powerful ChatGPT features while maintaining the trust people place in ChatGPT for important and personal tasks.
It will also allow them to better compete with Google, Microsoft, and Meta, and reflects increased appetite for growing commercial search behaviour within AI tools.
Platforms like ChatGPT provide valuable insight for users and are a key part of product and service discovery and general recommendations. As a result, they’ve become shopping and research assistants for people, helping them to find bespoke solutions to their needs.
With the popularity of these platforms, it was only a matter of time before they began implementing AI search advertising. And with advertisers hungry for new opportunities, those that aren’t paying attention will quickly get left behind.
What do ChatGPT ads look like?
Naturally, users and advertisers will be keen to understand where adverts will be located and how they will appear in conversations. According to OpenAI, each ad will feature the following aspects, which are similar to requirements in other advertising platforms:
- Advertiser name
- Favicon, i.e., the advertiser logo
- Title, i.e., headline
- Copy, i.e., description
- Landing page
- Image asset, i.e., creative
In May 2026, Digiday reported that ChatGPT ads were including the option for larger images and a call-to-action button for greater customisation.
Here are just a few other ways users can distinguish them.
Sponsored recommendations
Sponsored ads are fully labeled, so they are different from your organic AI conversations. Recommendations may appear whenever users search for products, services, or businesses, providing tailored suggestions to complement organic prompts.
Product placement ads
A consumer may look for new shoes or a tool to help them in their everyday working life, and this is where product placement ads come in. Adverts recommend bespoke product suggestions based on the query at hand. Native recommendation cards chosen by the AI assistant may include details like product details, pricing, and direct-action buttons.
Conversational display units
A conversational display unit refers to when recommendations are woven into answers, providing ad suggestions from the organic search. However, it’s important to note that these ads are still clearly distinguished from regular responses. This ensures that adverts always feel contextualised and tailored, while naturally fitting into results.
Who should consider advertising in ChatGPT?
You may be wondering whether ChatGPT advertising is the right fit for your business. The truth is that any businesses that are currently advertising with Google Ads or social media will benefit from adding AI ads to their existing paid advertising strategy to ensure they remain competitive across different platforms.
B2B businesses
Paid advertising has been a key strategy for B2B businesses for eons, and ChatGPT paid ads present an opportunity for more contextual, intent-driven targeting. As AI platforms can better understand natural language prompts, user behaviour, and buying intent, they can show relevant ads at key purchasing moments. With dynamic results, users receive personalised products and services to increase relevance and the chances of conversions.
B2C brands
ChatGPT ads have come at an ideal time, as customer discovery is becoming more conversational. Ads can provide personalised suggestions on where to eat, what products to buy, or which brands to trust.
Local businesses
While AI advertising has the capability of connecting users to worldwide brands, it can also place a spotlight onto businesses closer to home. From restaurant suggestions to nearby shops, local ads will help even more people find products and services in their local town or city.
High-consideration purchases
When consumers are looking for software platforms, luxury products, or home improvement services, there’s naturally more time and research that is traditionally spent on weighing up the decision. AI advertising could help to provide simpler customer journeys, showing relevant suggestions to save time and find the most appropriate brands faster.
Possible bid strategies for ChatGPT advertising
We can expect that over time, ChatGPT advertising will continue to adapt to a combination of traditional ad bidding and new AI-driven optimisation efforts. As a result, metrics will continue to be important for measuring the success of ad campaigns going forward.
ChatGPT ads also feature an Ads Manager Beta, which provides results for impressions, clicks, spend, click-through rate (CTR), average CPC, average CPM, and conversions. For the uninitiated, here’s a guide to the different options.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
As one of the most common metrics for advertising currently, cost per click refers to when advertisers pay for each click received on an ad. With ChatGPT ads providing more intent-based results, CPC will be a key metric in determining the success of each ad.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
Cost per acquisition refers to the cost associated with driving actions like bookings, purchases, enquiries, etc. It’s expected to be a useful metric for B2B lead generation, SaaS subscriptions, and high-consideration purchases to show ROI.
Cost Per Mille (CPM)
With ChatGPT giving advertisers the capability of gaining visibility in front of billions of users, cost per mille, which refers to cost per thousand impressions, will be a key factor in understanding how many people are reached. This will help with awareness campaigns, where it’s more important to reach audiences than to get them to immediately convert.
Value-based bidding
Value-based bidding allows advertisers to prioritise conversions from conversations that are likely to drive higher value for businesses. This means that rather than treating all conversions as the same, businesses can focus on enterprise-level leads rather than smaller enquiries.
What data & insights could advertisers access?
With ChatGPT still in its infancy, we’re expecting the capabilities and features to evolve over time. Aspects like engagement metrics, such as ad impressions, conversation interactions, and link clicks, will give advertisers even greater insight into the success of campaigns and what customers are searching for. Assisted responses help users to measure how AI recommendations contribute to wider awareness, considerations, or conversions.
AI platforms may also use intent signals and conversational context to show where customers are in the buying journey, from those in the research phase to those showing interest in products and services. AI can also predict aspects like follow-up questions, comparison behaviour, and purchasing intent throughout conversations for better targeting.
While conversational adverts are more tailored to users, it comes with their own attribution challenges. With queries being longer and more specific, journeys are far less linear than they’ve ever been. Meanwhile, users may try various AI recommendations, devices, websites, and marketing channels before making a purchase or enquiry. As a result, AI-assisted conversations may make it more difficult to distinguish between direct and indirect results, as users may not immediately click on an ad but search for it at a later date.
How ChatGPT ads differ from Google Ads
The biggest difference between Google Ads and ChatGPT ads is the buyer experience. AI ads will instead reward advertisers who can predict conversations and match their offering to high intent prompts.
Here are some significant ways in which they differ.
| Feature | Google Ads | ChatGPT Ads | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search style | Keyword | Conversational | |
| User behaviour | Query-based | Dialogue-based | |
| Ad format | Search/display | Native conversational | |
| Targeting | Keywords/audiences | Intent/context | |
| Discovery | Search results | Recommendations |
Risks & challenges of advertising in AI search
As with current advertising platforms, AI search environments present several risks and challenges for businesses.
With it still being a new option for advertisers, there are concerns around whether ads appear in conversations that show inaccurate, controversial, or unsuitable responses. This is particularly the case where AI hallucinations also create potential reputational risks around sentiment and brand perception.
In the beginning, advertisers could also face limited transparency around ChatGPT preferences, placements, and how it interprets conversations. With a growing dependence on AI systems and increased privacy, data usage, and regulatory requirements, we could expect to see further compliance and governance challenges for advertisers.
How can businesses prepare for ChatGPT advertising?
We understand that adapting to new platforms and approaches can always be daunting, and so this is how we recommend preparing for a wider ChatGPT rollout.
Improve structured content
Whether you’re looking to convert users post-click on ChatGPT or other AI-driven search platforms, it’s important to focus on creating structured, authoritative, and well-organised content. Brands can gain stronger authority by increasing their generative engine optimisation (GEO), which is the AI equivalent of SEO. When brands improve their online authority, they continue to build better paid relevance within platforms.
Adjust to conversation-style ad copy
The shift to conversational advertising will move businesses to more natural language messaging that reflects actual discussions. Helpful and unique ad copy will also drive interest and visibility in searches. Copy should move towards recommending services and products to better adapt to new models.
Align your SEO, PPC, and AI Strategy
More than ever, having a combined strategy across your marketing should go hand in hand. At Blue Frontier, we offer holistic digital marketing services to allow you to increase your capabilities, from your SEO and GEO to your PPC.
Will ChatGPT ads replace Google Ads?
As more people move over to ChatGPT, there is naturally going to be discussion around whether advertisers should move their efforts away from Google Ads. However, we don’t expect ChatGPT to replace Google Ads but instead complement the platform as another way to get your brand in front of target audiences.
To secure your business in the long term, AI search advertising should become a key part of your marketing mix, and businesses should diversify early when it becomes available in their region.
Are you ready for the future of advertising?
With the rollout soon to be announced for UK audiences, AI search is expected to become a significant advertising channel. This marks a move away from keywords and phrases to full-blown conversational marketing amid the rise of “answer engine optimisation”.
Businesses that start to consider how to adopt AI advertising now will gain a competitive advantage when it is eventually available to UK advertisers. Brands should continue to monitor developments to ensure they’re aware of new updates and best practices, while agencies will need to begin integrating AI-search into their ad strategies.
Want to prepare your paid media strategy for AI search? Speak with our team.
