How ChatGPT ads work
A practical guide for marketers: where the ads appear, who sees them, what is off limits, and how to measure them.
Where ads appear
Ads appear as separate cards labelled Sponsored, placed below the answer rather than inside it. OpenAI says ads do not influence the answer itself. Our evidence table records the placement of every card we see.
Who sees them
Ads are shown on the free and lower-cost tiers; paid tiers are ad-free. Delivery depends on the conversation topic and approximate location, so different markets see different ads.
What is restricted
Sensitive topics such as health are excluded from ads. Finance ads need case-by-case approval and, as far as we can tell, run mainly in the US. In the EU, ads are not personalised.
Buying
Reports describe pricing that started around premium CPMs and has fallen since launch, with no minimum spend. We treat all third-party pricing figures as unconfirmed until we can cite a primary source.
Measuring results
There are no official benchmarks yet. Track view-through and assisted conversions, not only clicks; click-through rates reported so far are below one percent. Our weekly report shows who is buying and how often their ads appear on a fixed set of prompts.
Official reporting
OpenAI must publish an EU ad repository by January 2027 under the DSA. We will compare our panel sightings with it where it applies; whether it will include ads shown inside chat is not yet settled.