OpenAI plans to monetise free users by introducing sponsored content with ChatGPT advertising on the platform.
Key Takeaways
- OpenAI is reportedly currently developing its advertising platform and plans to launch it in 2026.
- While it’s not confirmed yet, OpenAI is expected to go with the pay-per-click method of monetisation.
- Ad formats may include sponsored links, product recommendations, brief sessions, and driven placements.
OpenAI is Laying the Groundwork
OpenAI is planning to introduce a new marketing channel, which will enable marketers to advertise in ChatGPT in 2026. They recently listed engineer roles like “Growth Paid Marketing Platform Engineer”, who would bring their expertise in building campaign tools, attribution pipelines, ad-platform integration, and spend optimisation.
At DevDay(external link) 2025, Sam Altman confirmed there are no concrete plans to place ads in “Pulse” yet, but ads are being discussed in the concept. This means that users using Free or Pulse ChatGPT accounts will have ads shown in their ChatGPT conversations or accounts.
ChatGPT Advertising Platform Capabilities
OpenAI(external link)’s job listing lays out a very strong advertising environment. Engineers will design an advertising system that helps with campaign management across multiple channels, supports bulk campaign creation and automated updates, audience targeting tools, integrating major ad platforms (Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn, etc.), real-time attribution and reporting. It will also work as a data pipeline that tracks conversions, impressions, clicks, and ROI in real-time. Advertisers will also have dashboards for monitoring KPIs and campaign performance, bid management, and dynamic spend adjustment to maximise ROI.
OpenAI will focus on keeping ads as conversational, sponsored responses, and context-driven placement ads. They might not use the traditional display ad formats. ChatGPT Ads might display as you see different citations and references mentioned in ChatGPT conversations. As ChatGPT is an answer engine; thus, OpenAI will try to keep advertising smoothly between conversations.
Product Recommendations
This type of ads will be similar to citations that we see in ChatGPT conversations. You might get product recommendations with a link to the product or service advertiser.
Sponsored Responses
Sponsored Response ads might display as the first response to a user’s question. These might be similar to Google Ads. When a user searches for something in Google, sponsored ads display first then organic list; Sponsored Responses might have a similar format as well.
Context-Driven Placement Ads
Context-Driven Placement Ads could be similar to showing AI overviews and sponsored recommendations side by side.
How to Prepare for ChatGPT Advertising
Optimise Content for AI
Focus on creating high-quality content for your brand. AI agents and copilots prefer easy-to-read, conversational, high-quality content. To optimise content for AI, follow content hierarchy and structure.
Build Brand Visibility
For brand visibility, take advantage of consistent content across all platforms. E-E-A-T, or Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness signals, also help in creating quality content for your brand. These strong authority signals will help you get noticed and cited by AI.
Understand User Intent
User intent, also known as query intent or search intent. User intent is the goal behind a user’s search query. Write content on your website for your users. Understand what your users might be looking for and write authentic content keeping that in mind. There are four types of user intents, namely, informational, navigational, transactional, and commercial. Each user intent helps your audience reach your content better.
Stay Informed
Stay informed and updated about current and upcoming changes in the world of AI. Embrace the change and move forward with technology in your hands. You can stay informed with Somar as your guide; our team is always striving to stay ahead of AI SEO and SEM.
Who Will Benefit from ChatGPT Ads
Most Businesses and organisations will benefit from ChatGPT ads. Whether you're a non-profit organisation, a government agency, an eCommerce seller, a small business owner, or a startup, everyone will benefit from the new ChatGPT advertising platform. However, this may not work well for niche industries, or less known products, services and organisations.
Can Advertising Have a Negative Impact on ChatGPT
ChatGPT is built on neutrality, with unbiased answers and no hidden agendas. Incorporating ads could result in eroding the trust users have in ChatGPT, as they might start looking at all conversations as “paid conversations.” OpenAI needs to pay attention to labelling their ads or sponsored content, showing ad transparency to their users.
By introducing advertisements, ChatGPT could emerge as a new major advertising player, rivaling Google, Meta, and Amazon. With over 700 million weekly active users (as of September 2025), ChatGPT advertising could become one of the biggest new ad opportunities for marketers and businesses.
