OpenAI ads hit $100M ARR
OpenAI’s ChatGPT advertising pilot vaulted past $100 million annualized recurring revenue just six weeks after launch — and already counts over 600 advertisers. The company says it will open self-serve access in April, signaling rapid commercialization of conversational ads. (x.com) (x.com)
OpenAI says about 85% of ChatGPT users are eligible to see ads but that fewer than 20% of eligible users are shown ads on any given day. (money.usnews.com) The company confirmed it will open self-serve ad access in April and has told partners the pilot will be extended beyond April while expanding into Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the coming weeks. (eMarketer.com) Early pricing and deal terms being reported to advertisers include a roughly $60 fixed CPM and placement minimums that have been described in industry reporting as roughly $200,000 for initial partners. (AdTechRadar.com, aiHola.com) Multiple pilot advertisers and agency sources say measurement is limited — OpenAI’s pilot reportedly lacks tracking pixels and full conversion tags, and some early campaigns have produced click-through rates well below established search benchmarks. (TheInformation.com, DigitalTrends.com) Major global holding groups including WPP, Omnicom and Dentsu have clients in the test, and OpenAI named Criteo as an integration partner for commerce-focused ad tech during the pilot. (CNBC.com, criteo.com) OpenAI says ads are shown at the bottom of answers, will be clearly labeled and separate from ChatGPT’s outputs, and that users can dismiss ads and see why they were shown while the company maintains conversation data is not shared with marketers. (openai.com)
