Advertise inside the conversations where buyers now decide
ChatGPT shows ads now — and since May 2026, any US business can buy them with no minimum spend. We build and manage the campaigns, so your business appears inside the AI conversations your customers are already having.
Figures as reported by OpenAI and industry press coverage, July 2026.
From announcement to open auction in 110 days
Your ChatGPT Ads program, built and run end to end
Account & campaign setup
We open and structure your ChatGPT Ads Manager account properly — campaign, ad group, and ad hierarchy built to be measured, not guessed at.
Intent-category research
ChatGPT targets conversations, not keywords. We map the real questions your buyers ask an AI assistant and translate them into intent categories worth paying for.
Review-compliant creative
Every campaign is reviewed before it serves, and hype gets rejected. We write ads that read as genuinely useful in a conversation — which is exactly how we already write.
Tracking & attribution
Conversion tracking, UTM discipline, and multi-touch attribution so a conversational channel does not vanish into your last-click reporting.
Controlled testing
We start with a contained budget, measure against your existing channels, and give you a straight read on whether to scale, hold, or stop.
Paired with AI visibility
Paid placement works best alongside earned visibility. We run ChatGPT Ads next to answer engine optimization so you show up both ways.
Earned and paid, on the same shelf
There are two ways to show up inside an AI assistant — and they are not substitutes.
Get recommended
Answer engine optimization makes you the business AI names on its own when someone asks for a recommendation. It builds over time and keeps working when spend pauses. This is The Local Answer Engine.
Get placed
ChatGPT Ads buys a clearly labeled placement inside relevant conversations. It is controllable, measurable, and works from the day it is switched on — while your earned visibility is still building.
A different auction, rewarding different things
| Google Ads | ChatGPT Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Targeting | Keywords people type | Conversational intent categories — themes, not strings |
| Where the ad lives | On a results page, among ten links | Below a relevant AI conversation, clearly labeled |
| Buyer mindset | Scanning options, task-focused | Mid-conversation, information-seeking |
| Copy that wins | Urgency and promotion survive | Genuinely useful — hype gets rejected in review |
| Reach today | Massive, mature, expensive | Free & Go tiers in 4 countries — young, uncrowded |
| Benchmarks | Two decades of data | Beta — anyone quoting guarantees is guessing |
Who this is for — and who it is not
It is worth testing if: you already run search advertising that works, you sell something people research conversationally, you can fund a real test without needing it to pay back in week one, and you want to learn a channel before your competitors do.
It is probably not for you yet if: your fundamentals are not in place, your budget is small enough that splitting it would weaken a channel that is already producing, or you are in a category facing prohibition or strict review. Adult content, gambling, weapons, illegal products, and misleading financial schemes are prohibited outright. Healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and financial services face stricter review and possible limits.
The platform is in beta. There are no trustworthy benchmarks yet, so anyone quoting you a guaranteed cost per lead on ChatGPT Ads is making it up. We will tell you what we see in your account, and what it means.
Questions, Answered
ChatGPT Ads are sponsored placements that appear inside ChatGPT conversations. OpenAI began showing them to US users on the Free and ChatGPT Go tiers in February 2026, and opened a self-serve platform, ChatGPT Ads Manager, to all US businesses on May 5, 2026. Ads are clearly labeled and appear below a relevant conversation. Paid tiers such as Plus, Team, and Enterprise remain ad-free.
No. During the earlier pilot phase OpenAI required a $50,000 commitment, which limited access to large brands and their agencies. That minimum was removed when the self-serve ChatGPT Ads Manager opened in May 2026, so businesses of any size can now set their own budget.
Google Ads is built around keywords. ChatGPT Ads is built around conversational intent categories: you describe the kinds of conversations you want to appear in, and the system matches relevant discussions rather than exact search strings. You can further refine by geography, device, conversation complexity, time of day, and negative targeting to exclude poor-fit conversations.
Ads are shown to users on the free and lower-cost tiers. At the time of writing that means Free and ChatGPT Go users in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with a pilot expansion announced for the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea. Subscribers on Plus, Team, and Enterprise plans do not see ads.
No, and we will not claim otherwise. OpenAI's named agency partners are large holding companies. We are an independent agency that builds and manages campaigns inside OpenAI's self-serve ChatGPT Ads Manager on behalf of our clients, the same way any US business can.
No. Categories including adult content, gambling, weapons, illegal products, and misleading financial schemes are prohibited. Regulated sectors such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and financial services face stricter review and may face limitations. Every campaign is reviewed before it serves, and copy that is overly promotional or makes misleading claims can be rejected. We scope this with you before any spend.
Bidding is click and engagement based, and costs vary widely by intent category and competition. The platform is new and still in beta, so there are no reliable industry benchmarks yet. We will not promise a cost per lead or a return figure on a channel this young. What we will do is run a controlled test, measure it honestly against your existing channels, and tell you plainly whether it is worth continuing.
No. For nearly every business, ChatGPT Ads is an addition to a working search program, not a replacement for one. Google still carries far more commercial volume. The reason to test ChatGPT Ads now is that it is early, the auction is uncrowded compared with mature channels, and the learning compounds.
Be early, deliberately.
We will look at your category, tell you honestly whether ChatGPT Ads is worth a test right now, and show you where your business already stands in AI search. No cost, no obligation.
ChatGPT is a trademark of OpenAI. Apex Media Solutions is an independent agency; we build and manage campaigns in OpenAI’s self-serve ChatGPT Ads Manager on behalf of our clients and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an advertising partner of OpenAI. The conversation shown above is an illustration, not a screenshot of ChatGPT.