‘Expand thoughtfully’: OpenAI offers ChatGPT ads to new markets including the U.K., Brazil and Japan

“We’re excited to begin expanding the ChatGPT ads pilot into additional regions following strong interest from businesses looking to reach users in a more conversational, intent-driven environment,” said Dave Dugan, head of global ads solutions at OpenAI. “As we expand thoughtfully, we’re focused on learning what works best for users and advertisers in each region while staying grounded in the principles that matter most to us: answer independence, privacy, and user control.”

The geographic push is the latest in a run of moves from OpenAI. In the past six weeks alone it has hired an ads boss, unveiled ad tech partnerships, launched measurement infrastructure, reduced pricing and launched its ads manager. Somewhere between now and when the test started back in February, the cautious test became something more deliberate. 

“I think they want to get as much data at this point to know as much as they can around engagement, what works, what doesn’t work, what actually gets clicks or doesn’t, and the type of content they can push and give preference over,” said Jai Amin, chief solutions officer, media activation at Jellyfish.

The hints have been there for some time. Digiday spotted that OpenAI was likely already planning to launch ads in the U.K. and Japan last month, having reported that there are vacancies for a regional client partner and customer success manager in both London and Tokyo. Plus, last week Digiday reported about updated code in the platform’s conversion pixel, which added the sort of consent management system typically used to comply with privacy regulations in Europe. 

“The U.K., Japan, and Brazil in particular have relatively high online advertising intensity, representing a more valuable opportunity for OpenAI to capitalize on, in addition to having larger ChatGPT audiences,” said Enders Analysis’ senior research analyst Claire Holubowsky. 

It’s a tried-and-tested playbook for media owners: concentrate first on markets where audiences are strongest and dollars should be easier to attract. In markets like the U.K., that logic is hard to argue with. 

Adthena’s CMO Ashley Fletcher said that during his keynote at BrightonSEO event last week to about 150 execs “every one of them raised their hand saying they want to get ready for ChatGPT ads — so demand in the U.K. market is there.”

Demand can be flaky, susceptible to the whims of the market and vagaries of a narrative. The important bit is whether the habit forms among ChatGPT users before the ads define it. If it does, then it could eventually become one of the next dominant forces in advertising. So far the signs are encouraging. Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT ads pilot on Feb. 9, the average monthly ad spend sits around $109 million, according to data from AdClarity. And it will likely reach around $500 million if not more, said Assaf Toval, co-founder and GM at BIScience, which owns AdClarity. 

Good as that is for an ads business that is barely three months old, it’s still pretty short of the $2.5 billion target that OpenAI forecast it would reach by the end of 2026 and further makes the case why it needs more advertisers, in more markets, quickly.

Granted, that’s easier said than done. The fastest route to scale is the riskiest one. ChatGPT’s conversations are more intimate than anything Google or Meta built an ads business on. People use it to work through medical decisions, relationship problems and financial anxieties. The data that makes those conversations commercially valuable is the same data that makes exploiting them a reputational and regulatory viability. Move too fast on targeting and personalization and the trust that underpins the whole proposition fractures. Move too slowly and the revenue gap widens. There is no clean path between the two — only a calibration OpenAI will have to keep making in public, under pressure with regulators watching and advertisers waiting.

“In a conversational environment like ChatGPT, if advertisers can’t demonstrate results, budgets simply won’t follow,” said Alex Tait, founder of Entropy Consulting. “Ultimately it comes down to whether OpenAI can build an ads product that regulators are comfortable with, and that advertisers trust is driving impact.”