On May 5, 2026, OpenAI launched a self-serve Ads Manager at ads.openai.com. Any US business can now sign up, set budgets, bid CPC, and serve ads inside ChatGPT conversations. Three months ago that required a $50,000 minimum spend and a managed agency relationship. Today the minimum is zero and starting bids sit at $3 to $5 per click.
What it is
Ads appear as clearly labeled boxes below AI responses, never inside the answer itself. The ad shows up after the conversation has already established context and intent. Someone asking ChatGPT “what’s the best CRM for a small construction company” has already told the platform who they are, what they need, and where they are in the decision process.
There are no keyword lists. Instead, advertisers supply context hints: broad descriptions of the questions or situations a user might bring to ChatGPT that align with what you’re selling. You’re not bidding on a keyword. You’re telling the algorithm what kinds of conversations your ad belongs in.
Measurement is in place. OpenAI added a Conversions API and pixel-based tracking at launch, covering purchases, leads, and sign-ups. UTM parameters work as expected.
What the early data says
The numbers are directional, not definitive.
A Criteo panel of 500 retailers found LLM-referred traffic converting at roughly 1.5x the rate of other referral channels. Early brand partner campaigns reported click-through rates between 0.8% and 2.3% depending on vertical, compared to a Google Display average of around 0.46%. Some advertisers are seeing post-click conversion rates two to three times higher than traditional search, attributed to users arriving with sharper context than a keyword search provides.
The caveat: measurement infrastructure is still maturing. Brand safety tools are in early integration stages and standardized benchmarks don’t exist yet. Treat it as a test channel, not a primary one.
Are ChatGPT Ads Right For You?
The strongest fit right now for these ads are B2B SaaS, professional services, education, and high-consideration ecommerce, verticals where users bring genuine research intent to ChatGPT. At this time, local service businesses are a weaker fit until geographic targeting gets more granular.
It’s extremely likely that the $3 to $5 CPC won’t hold. Every major ad platform follows the same arc: low CPCs during early adoption, rising costs as competition arrives. Google in 2002, Facebook in 2010, TikTok in 2021. The businesses that built expertise during those windows compounded that advantage for years. Right now the competition is largely Fortune 500 brands still figuring out whether their agency knows what to do with it.
If your business fits the platform, low CPCs and thin competition are about as good as entry conditions get. If you’re a local service business, the platform isn’t built for you yet. Give it six months.
Interested in ChatGPT Ads? Get in touch and let’s talk about it.