Advertising on ChatGPT Has Arrived: What Businesses Need to Know

If you woke up this morning to an email from ChatGPT about advertising and felt excited, we would advise you to be.

Because we are.

More importantly, we have already seen the results first hand.

Some of our US based clients have been testing advertising through ChatGPT over the past couple of months and, put simply, they have been killing it.

Now, as access to ChatGPT Ads Manager begins reaching more businesses, a completely new advertising opportunity is starting to open up.

This is not simply another place to display a banner or interrupt someone while they scroll. ChatGPT Ads have the potential to reach people while they are actively exploring a problem, comparing options, researching a purchase or looking for a service.

That difference matters.

Traditional advertising often tries to create intent. Advertising inside ChatGPT can place a business in front of someone while that intent is already being expressed.

For businesses, retailers and service providers, this could become one of the most important developments in paid digital advertising in years.

What are ChatGPT Ads?

ChatGPT Ads allow eligible businesses to create paid advertising campaigns that can appear within the ChatGPT experience.

According to OpenAI’s official ChatGPT Ads documentation, the platform is designed to help customers discover relevant products and services. OpenAI has also developed the supporting infrastructure required to create campaigns, upload advertising assets, monitor performance and measure actions taken after someone interacts with an ad.

This means ChatGPT advertising is not a simple sponsored recommendation system. It is developing into a complete advertising platform with its own campaign structure, creative formats, audience controls, reporting tools and conversion measurement.

The current platform includes:

1. Advertiser accounts
2. Campaigns and ad groups
3. Advertising creative and destination links
4. Location targeting
5. Campaign budgets and bidding
6. Performance reporting
7. Conversion tracking
8. Product feed campaigns
9. Custom audiences, where available
10. An Advertiser API for approved integrations and partners

The platform is still developing, and access, targeting options and individual features may vary by account and location. However, the structure already shows how seriously OpenAI is approaching advertising within ChatGPT.

Why advertising on ChatGPT is different

The most valuable part of ChatGPT advertising is not simply the size of the audience.

It is the context surrounding that audience.

People use ChatGPT to ask questions, conduct research, compare products, plan purchases and solve problems. These conversations can provide a much clearer indication of what someone is trying to achieve than a passive impression on a social media feed.

Consider the difference between these two situations.

Someone scrolling through social media may see an advertisement for a heat pump, skincare consultation, mortgage service or business software platform without having any immediate need for it.

Someone asking ChatGPT to compare home heating systems, recommend a treatment for a particular skin concern, explain the mortgage process or find software for a specific business challenge is already demonstrating intent.

The advertiser is no longer trying to create the entire journey from a cold impression. The conversation itself may indicate that the user is already researching the problem.

That does not guarantee a sale or enquiry. It does, however, create the potential for advertising to appear at a much more commercially relevant moment.

ChatGPT Ads are not the same as appearing organically

There is an important distinction between organic visibility in ChatGPT and paid advertising on ChatGPT.

Organic visibility depends on whether a business, product or source is understood and considered relevant within an AI generated answer. This can be influenced by the quality of the website, product data, public business information, authority, reviews, citations and overall digital footprint.

Paid advertising is managed through ChatGPT Ads Manager. Businesses can create campaigns, supply advertising creative, choose available targeting options and track performance through the platform.

One does not replace the other.

The strongest businesses will work on both.

They will build the website, content, product information and authority needed to become easier for AI platforms to understand, while also using paid advertising to reach relevant users more directly.

This is where ChatGPT Ads, Generative Search Optimisation and Answer Engine Optimisation begin to form part of the same wider visibility strategy.

What is involved in setting up a ChatGPT advertising campaign?

Advertising on ChatGPT should be approached with the same commercial discipline as Google Ads or Meta Ads.

Opening an account and uploading an image is not a strategy.

A proper campaign setup should include the following stages.

1. Define the commercial objective

The first step is deciding what the campaign is expected to achieve.

Possible objectives may include:

1. Online purchases
2. Consultation bookings
3. Quote requests
4. Lead form submissions
5. Telephone enquiries
6. Product discovery
7. Software trials
8. App installations
9. Store visits
10. Brand awareness within a defined market

The campaign objective should be tied to a real business outcome. Clicks and impressions can help diagnose performance, but they are not the final result.

2. Choose the right offer

The offer matters just as much as the platform.

A generic advertisement that says a company provides a great service is unlikely to be enough. The advertiser needs to understand why someone would take action now and what makes the offer relevant to the conversation or problem being explored.

The strongest offer may be a consultation, product range, trial, assessment, comparison guide, booking opportunity or direct solution to a clearly defined need.

Advertising cannot repair an unclear proposition. It can only place that proposition in front of more people.

3. Build the campaign structure

OpenAI’s advertiser structure places ads inside ad groups, with ad groups sitting inside campaigns.

Campaigns and ad groups are used to control areas such as budget, bidding and targeting. The individual ad contains the title, description, imagery and destination URL that the user sees.

This structure allows a business to separate different products, locations, services, messages and commercial objectives.

For example, a company should not necessarily place every service into one campaign. A heat pump campaign, air conditioning campaign and maintenance campaign may require different messages, landing pages and measures of success.

Clear separation makes performance easier to understand and budgets easier to control.

4. Select the available targeting

OpenAI currently documents location targeting at country, region and designated market area level, subject to availability.

The platform also uses contextual information to help place relevant ads. This is one of the areas where ChatGPT advertising may differ most from established social advertising.

Advertisers should not simply copy an audience from Meta and expect identical performance. ChatGPT is a different environment, used with a different mindset and at different stages of the decision process.

The targeting strategy should reflect what the customer is trying to accomplish, not only who the customer is.

5. Create advertising suited to the platform

An ad inside ChatGPT should feel clear, relevant and useful.

The current documented chat card format can include a title, body copy, image and destination link. This gives advertisers the familiar building blocks of a digital advertisement, but the message still needs to suit a conversational environment.

Heavy sales language, vague claims and generic slogans are unlikely to be the strongest approach.

The creative should quickly communicate:

1. What is being offered
2. Who it is relevant to
3. What problem it solves
4. Why the user should consider it
5. What will happen after clicking

In this environment, clarity will generally be more valuable than noise.

6. Prepare the landing page

The advertisement is only the beginning.

If the user clicks an ad and arrives on a slow, vague or confusing website, the opportunity is lost.

The landing page should continue the exact message introduced in the advertisement. It should answer the most important questions, establish trust and provide one clear next step.

A strong landing page should include:

1. A clear headline connected to the advertisement
2. A concise explanation of the product or service
3. Evidence such as reviews, results, accreditations or case studies
4. Transparent information about what is included
5. A clear call to action
6. Fast loading on mobile devices
7. Accurate conversion tracking

ChatGPT can help create the opportunity, but the website still has to convert it.

7. Install conversion tracking

OpenAI provides a dedicated ChatGPT Ads Measurement Pixel for tracking website events that can be attributed to advertising activity.

Businesses can use conversion events to measure actions such as completed orders, submitted forms, registrations and other valuable customer activity.

OpenAI also provides a Conversions API for sending events from a server. The company describes this as a more reliable tracking source than relying on the browser pixel alone.

For many businesses, a combination of browser and server side measurement will provide the clearest possible picture of campaign performance, subject to consent, privacy and technical requirements.

Without accurate tracking, an advertiser may know that an ad generated clicks but not whether those clicks produced revenue or qualified enquiries.

That is not enough information to scale a campaign responsibly.

8. Monitor and optimise performance

ChatGPT Ads reporting can include metrics such as impressions, clicks, spend, click through rate, average cost per click and conversions.

These metrics should be reviewed together.

A high click through rate may suggest that the message is relevant, but it does not automatically mean the traffic is converting. A low cost per click may look attractive, but it has limited value if the enquiries are unqualified.

The most important measures will depend on the business, but they should normally include:

1. Conversion volume
2. Cost per conversion
3. Conversion rate
4. Lead quality
5. Revenue generated
6. Return on advertising spend
7. The time required to convert a lead into a customer

Early campaigns will require testing. Advertisers should expect to refine the creative, landing page, targeting, bids and offer as performance data develops.

What can businesses expect from ChatGPT Ads?

The honest answer is that performance will vary.

ChatGPT Ads are still at an early stage. Features will continue to develop, access will expand and both advertisers and users will learn how paid messages fit into a conversational platform.

Businesses should not expect guaranteed leads simply because the advertising channel is new.

They should expect an opportunity to test a new source of commercially relevant traffic.

The businesses most likely to benefit are those that already have:

1. A clear product or service
2. A strong reason for customers to choose them
3. A website capable of converting traffic
4. Accurate conversion tracking
5. A process for responding to leads quickly
6. Enough patience to collect and interpret useful data

The early results we have seen through US based clients are extremely encouraging. However, we would never suggest that one client’s performance guarantees another client’s result.

The opportunity is real, but execution still matters.

Will ChatGPT Ads replace Google or Meta advertising?

Not in the immediate future.

Google, Meta, TikTok and other established platforms each play a different role within the customer journey.

Google captures explicit search demand. Meta is highly effective for discovery, retargeting and visual demand generation. TikTok can create attention and cultural relevance through short form content.

ChatGPT introduces another environment, one based on conversation, problem solving, comparison and research.

The strongest strategy will not necessarily move all advertising spend from one platform to another. It will identify where ChatGPT Ads can support the wider customer journey and allocate budget based on measurable performance.

Over time, businesses may discover that ChatGPT performs particularly well for certain products, services or stages of consideration. Others may find that it works best alongside existing Google and Meta activity.

The data should make that decision.

Which businesses should consider ChatGPT advertising?

ChatGPT Ads may be particularly relevant for businesses operating in markets where customers conduct research before making contact or purchasing.

This may include:

1. Ecommerce brands
2. Professional services
3. Financial and insurance services
4. Healthcare and clinical services
5. Home improvement and energy companies
6. Travel and hospitality businesses
7. Software and technology providers
8. Education and training companies
9. Automotive businesses
10. Business to business service providers
11. Retailers with structured product catalogues
12. Companies offering considered or higher value purchases

Suitability will depend on account access, market availability, advertising policies and the nature of the offer.

Product advertising and ecommerce opportunities

The ecommerce opportunity is particularly significant.

OpenAI supports product feed campaigns that allow eligible advertisers to connect a merchant catalogue. Product information such as titles, descriptions, prices, availability, images and destination links can be supplied through the feed.

This creates the potential for relevant products to be selected from a larger catalogue without the advertiser manually creating a separate ad for every item.

For ecommerce businesses, product data quality will become increasingly important.

Incomplete titles, weak descriptions, missing attributes, incorrect prices and outdated availability can limit performance across far more than one platform. A properly structured product feed may support both paid advertising and the wider ability of AI systems to understand what a business sells.

This is another reason we believe ecommerce infrastructure will play such an important role in the next stage of digital marketing.

Why early access matters

Every major advertising platform goes through a period in which businesses, agencies and customers are learning how it works.

That early period can create an advantage for advertisers willing to test responsibly.

It provides time to understand:

1. Which products and services attract attention
2. Which messages fit the platform
3. Which landing pages convert
4. How costs compare with other channels
5. What types of conversations produce commercial intent
6. How ChatGPT Ads contribute to the wider customer journey

The objective should not be to spend quickly because a platform is new.

The objective should be to learn before the market becomes more competitive.

Businesses that establish accurate tracking, strong creative processes and a reliable testing structure now may be better prepared as access expands.

Brand Depot’s view on ChatGPT advertising

At Brand Depot, we believe ChatGPT Ads represent a major change in how businesses can connect with potential customers.

This is not because every campaign will automatically outperform Google or Meta. It is because conversational platforms are becoming a meaningful part of how people discover information, evaluate options and make decisions.

Advertising is now entering that environment.

We have already seen encouraging results through US based clients over the past couple of months. That experience has given us an early understanding of the opportunity, the setup involved and the importance of connecting advertising activity with the right website infrastructure.

The advertisement cannot be separated from the landing page, tracking, customer journey, offer and follow up process.

Most businesses do not have a marketing problem. They have an infrastructure problem.

ChatGPT Ads will be no different.

The businesses that benefit most will not simply be the first to open an account. They will be the businesses that can turn interest into measurable commercial action.

Preparing your business for ChatGPT Ads

Before launching a campaign, businesses should review the following:

1. Is the product or service clearly explained?
2. Is there a strong and specific offer?
3. Does the website load quickly and work properly on mobile?
4. Is there a dedicated landing page for the campaign?
5. Are trust signals, reviews and accreditations visible?
6. Can purchases, enquiries and bookings be tracked accurately?
7. Is there a clear process for responding to new leads?
8. Is the product catalogue accurate and structured correctly?
9. Are advertising claims compliant with the relevant industry rules?
10. Is there a plan for reviewing and improving performance?

If the answer to several of these questions is no, the priority may not be launching the campaign immediately. The priority may be repairing the infrastructure that the campaign depends on.

Final thoughts

Advertising on ChatGPT is one of the most exciting additions to the digital marketing landscape in years.

It brings paid advertising into an environment where people are actively asking questions, exploring problems and comparing possible solutions.

That creates a very different opportunity from passive advertising.

It also creates a new responsibility for businesses. Campaigns will need to be relevant, useful, accurately measured and connected to websites that can convert the interest they generate.

The platform is early. Results will vary. Features and access will continue to change.

But from what we have already seen, ChatGPT Ads deserve serious attention.

Brand Depot is preparing eligible Irish businesses for this next stage of digital advertising, including campaign strategy, Ads Manager setup, creative development, conversion tracking, landing pages, product data and ongoing optimisation.

If you received an invitation to access ChatGPT Ads Manager, or want to understand whether your business is ready for the platform, speak with Brand Depot.

Visit https://brand-depot.com or book a consultation at https://calendly.com/branddepotsales/30min.

Frequently asked questions about ChatGPT Ads

What are ChatGPT Ads?

ChatGPT Ads are paid advertisements created and managed through OpenAI Ads Manager. They are designed to help users discover relevant products and services within the ChatGPT experience.

How do businesses advertise on ChatGPT?

Eligible advertisers can create an ad account, build campaigns and ad groups, upload creative, select available targeting, add destination links and configure conversion tracking. Availability and features may vary by account and market.

Can ChatGPT Ads track sales and enquiries?

Yes. OpenAI provides a Measurement Pixel and Conversions API for measuring supported website and server events. Accurate implementation is important for evaluating cost per conversion, revenue and overall campaign performance.

Are ChatGPT Ads suitable for ecommerce businesses?

ChatGPT Ads can support product feed campaigns for eligible advertisers. Product feeds can provide current product titles, descriptions, prices, availability, images and destination links for use in advertising.

Will ChatGPT Ads replace Google Ads or Meta Ads?

ChatGPT Ads are more likely to become an additional part of the advertising mix. Each platform reaches customers in a different environment and at different stages of the buying process. Performance data should determine how budgets are divided.

Are results from ChatGPT Ads guaranteed?

No advertising platform can guarantee results. Performance will depend on the offer, targeting, creative, landing page, conversion tracking, competition and wider sales process.

Why should businesses test ChatGPT Ads early?

Early testing can help a business understand how customers respond to the platform, which offers perform best and how costs compare with established advertising channels. Testing should be controlled, accurately measured and based on a clear commercial objective.

Can Brand Depot manage ChatGPT advertising campaigns?

Brand Depot can help eligible businesses prepare for ChatGPT Ads, develop campaign strategy, create advertising assets, implement conversion tracking, improve landing pages and manage ongoing performance as access becomes available.