OpenAI’s decision to introduce ads inside ChatGPT marks a significant shift.
It is officially opening the door to paid brand placements within AI conversations. The promise is compelling: premium brand placement inside high-attention AI conversations. Here’s the offer: premium prices paired with limited performance data.
For marketers, this marks the arrival of a new kind of media channel: highly engaging, context-rich, and trust-driven but far less measurable than they’re used to. The result is an ad product that feels closer to a sponsorship than a performance engine.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Ads Enter AI Conversation: What’s New?
ChatGPT is not a social feed, search engine, or video platform. It is an interactive environment where users arrive with the intent to solve problems, learn concepts, brainstorm ideas, or make decisions.
That difference is at the core of OpenAI’s ad pitch.
Rather than flooding the interface with promotions, OpenAI is taking a controlled approach. The goal is to preserve the experience while monetising the platform’s growing reach. OpenAI is positioning this as a high-trust, high-attention environment where ads feel more contextual and less disruptive.
However, that positioning comes at a steep price.
Price Tag: Premium CPMs From Day One
OpenAI is reportedly charging around $60 per thousand impressions, which makes ChatGPT ads among the most expensive digital placements available today.
ChatGPT ads would be nearly three times higher than typical Meta or Google display placements. Meta CPMs often range between $15–$25 for many brand campaigns.
To understand the significance:
- This rate is roughly triple what advertisers often pay on Meta platforms.
- It exceeds many premium display and video buys.
- It arrives without historical benchmarks or proven case studies.
The pricing suggests that OpenAI views ChatGPT not as a commodity, but as a premium media environment where attention and context are worth paying extra for.
ChatGPT ads are entering the market without historical benchmarks or proven ROI.
This pricing signals confidence. OpenAI is effectively betting that attention quality, context, and brand safety are valuable enough to justify the cost, even without performance parity.
What This Means For Advertisers
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of ChatGPT ads is not the price, but the data advertisers will not receive.
What advertisers get:
- Total impressions
- Basic click metrics (where applicable)
What advertisers don’t get:
- Conversion tracking
- Purchase or post-click behaviour
- User-level targeting data
- Detailed attribution or funnel insights
For performance marketers used to optimising campaigns down to the last conversion event, this represents a significant constraint. Campaigns run on ChatGPT will function more like:
- High-end sponsorships
- Brand awareness placements
- Experimental media buys
Rather than conversion engines.
Why Measurement Is So Limited
The limitations are not accidental. They are a direct result of OpenAI’s public commitments around privacy and trust.
OpenAI has repeatedly stated that it will:
- Not sell user data to advertisers
- Keep ChatGPT conversations private
- Avoid surveillance-style targeting models
These principles set firm boundaries on what advertisers can know. The tradeoff is clear: stronger user trust and brand safety in exchange for limited targeting and attribution.
In short, the lack of data is the cost of trust.
Who Will See ChatGPT Ads And Who Won’t
OpenAI is rolling out ads with clear boundaries around safety and suitability.
Ads will appear for:
- Users on ChatGPT Free and ChatGPT Go tiers
- General, non-sensitive conversations
Ads will not appear for:
- Users under the age of 18
Conversations involving sensitive topics such as:
- Mental health
- Politics
- Other high-risk subject areas
This approach reinforces OpenAI’s attempt to frame ChatGPT ads as brand-safe, responsible, and aligned with user trust, even if it limits scale in the short term.
Why Marketers Should Care Anyway
Despite the cost and constraints, ChatGPT ads represent something rare in digital marketing: a genuinely new environment.
Key reasons marketers are paying attention:
- High user intent: People come to ChatGPT to think, decide, and solve problems.
- Undivided attention: No infinite scroll, autoplay videos, or competing tabs inside the conversation.
- First-mover advantage: Early advertisers can shape best practices before the format matures.
- Brand halo effect: Being present in a trusted AI tool may enhance brand perception.
For brand-led marketers, especially in tech, education, finance, and enterprise services, the appeal is obvious.
Performance vs. Presence: The ChatGPT Ads Tradeoff
ChatGPT ads force advertisers to confront a familiar tension in a new form.
On one side:
- Premium pricing
- Limited reporting
- No immediate performance guarantees
On the other:
- Early access to a new medium
- High-quality attention
- Strong brand safety and trust signals
For now, this is not a platform designed for ROAS-maximisation or last-click attribution. It is a space for experimentation, learning, and long-term brand positioning.
Between the Lines: OpenAI’s Bigger Bet
OpenAI is not just selling ad inventory. It is selling a philosophy.
By emphasising privacy, context, and trust over targeting and surveillance, OpenAI is implicitly challenging the dominant ad-tech model.
The company appears to believe that:
- Advertisers will pay more for quality attention
- Brands are increasingly wary of unsafe or opaque environments
- Measurement can evolve without compromising user trust
Whether that bet pays off will depend on how quickly advertisers see real-world value — even without granular data.
The Bottom Line
ChatGPT ads are not for everyone. At least not yet. The high CPMs and limited measurement will give performance-driven advertisers pause. But for brands willing to experiment, the format offers something increasingly rare: access to focused, intentional audiences inside a trusted AI experience.
For now, ChatGPT ads are less about efficiency and more about presence: a bet on where attention is headed in an AI-first world.
Need a fresh perspective? Let’s talk.
At 360 OM, we specialise in helping businesses take their marketing efforts to the next level. Our team stays on top of industry trends, uses data-informed decisions to maximise your ROI, and provides full transparency through comprehensive reports.
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