The Information wrote "OpenAI’s First Advertisers Can’t Prove ChatGPT Ads Work." In short, the ChatGPT ad platform from OpenAI shares almost no data with advertisers. It is low tech, there is no ad performance data, and it also has very limited ad targeting features.
Glenn Gabe quoted solid portions of the article and posted it on X:
"Two executives at agencies working with early ChatGPT advertisers said they haven’t yet been able to prove the ads have driven any measurable business outcomes for their clients.""OpenAI hasn’t yet offered marketers any automated way to buy ad space. Buyers have had to rely on making phone calls and sending spreadsheets and emails to OpenAI representatives, one ad executive said. More importantly, advertisers found it hard to tell whether the ads were paying off."
I don't think anyone is surprised by this but I mean, why not have their AI write up some nice reporting tools?
And of course, OpenAI will be pushing more:
"The company has said ChatGPT will be showing ads to all U.S. users of the free and low-cost version of the chatbot in the coming weeks, one of the people said, which would be a significant jump from the portion of users it showed ads earlier in the pilot.""OpenAI has also advised advertisers that they can boost how often their ads are shown and improve ad performance by providing more variations of the text and visuals that go in the ads, the two executives said."
I am sure we will hear more from advertisers over time and hopefully things will improve.
More about the ChatGPT ads pilot. They will open the floodgates soon -> "The company has said ChatGPT will be showing ads to all U.S. users of the free and low-cost version of the chatbot in the coming weeks, one of the people said, which would be a significant jump from the…
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 22, 2026
Forum discussion at X.
