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ChatGPT Expand Ads, Offers Self-Service

Driven by necessity, ChatGPT is rapidly expanding its ad platform. Earlier this week, OpenAI announced it was making ads more widely available. There are now two ways to buy, through partners (agencies, technology partners) and using a new self-service Ads Manager (US only). OpenAI is explicitly appealing to SMBs as well as brands. "Businesses can register as advertisers, add payment information, set budgets, bids and pacing, upload ads, launch and manage campaigns, and view performance in the portal." The company has also enabled improved measurement and CPC billing, but will continue to offer CPM, adding "over time [we] expect to support more ways for advertisers to bid and optimize for the outcomes they care about most." And a new AI ads report from Similarweb offers a first look at ChatGPT ad performance and pricing. The report estimates there are about 1K active ChatGPT advertisers. Significantly (vs. Google AI) only one ad appears per conversation "turn" (page/result). This is a major differentiator; how long it will last is another matter. Ads appear on the first answer ("turn 1") 44% of the time and on a later "turn" 56% of the time. The report shows a 0.50% median CTR at the bottom and 5.4% at the top. According to third party benchmarks ChatGPT ads outperform Google Display Ads but have lower CTRs generally than paid search ads. The report assumes a $60 CPM and $12 CPC.