OpenAI Opens ChatGPT Ads to More Bidders With New Tool as Weekly Users Near 1 Billion
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · May 28
OpenAI Opens ChatGPT Ads to More Bidders With New Tool as Weekly Users Near 1 Billion
11 articles · Updated · Business Insider · May 28
May brought OpenAI’s widest ad expansion yet: a new buying tool now lets more businesses apply to bid for placements inside ChatGPT.
1% to 2% of prompts currently trigger ads, and 83% of ad-bearing conversations show only one, suggesting OpenAI is keeping the format sparse while testing revenue potential.
66,000 placements analyzed by Profound showed software ads dominated—34% of the total, plus 15% for creator, design and media tools—matching a prompt mix that was about 40% work-related.
90,000 prompts tested by Adthena found commercial phrasing mattered most: “buy” queries drew ads 15% of the time, ahead of “best X” at 12%, with travel attracting 31 advertisers while health showed almost none.
OpenAI says advertisers do not get access to conversations or personal data, but the rollout is drawing scrutiny over privacy, personalization and bias as ChatGPT’s audience approaches 1 billion weekly users.
Will ChatGPT's new ad model, with low clicks but high engagement, finally dethrone Google?
As ads infiltrate AI chatbots, can user trust and corporate profits truly coexist?
As AI answers replace search links, are decades of search optimization expertise becoming obsolete?
OpenAI’s 2026 Digital Ad Expansion: ChatGPT’s 900 Million Users, Monetization, and the New Privacy Frontier
Overview
In 2026, OpenAI made a bold move into digital advertising by rapidly expanding its monetization strategies for ChatGPT. This expansion was driven by the company’s impressive financial growth, with revenue soaring from $1 billion in 2023 to $3.7 billion in 2024. OpenAI introduced advanced advertising tools, new bidding models, and launched a global rollout, all while leveraging its fast-growing user base. This aggressive approach not only aims to boost revenue but also supports OpenAI’s mission to make AI more accessible, showing how financial success is fueling further innovation and expansion in the digital ad space.