ChatGPT Ads Hits $1 Billion Annualized in Under 200 Days
Ads have become a working fourth revenue stream for OpenAI alongside subscriptions, enterprise services, and the paid API, and the company is scaling them across regions while insisting the ad system cannot influence answer content.
Reporting from 1 source: GIGAZINE.
OpenAI said on August 31 that ChatGPT Ads reached $1 billion in annualized revenue, about 160 billion yen, in under 200 days since launch. Tens of thousands of advertisers now buy ads across more than 40 countries. Ads appear below generated answers with a Sponsored label, and OpenAI says the ad delivery system is separate from answer generation, so advertisers cannot change responses. The company plans more regions, ad formats, and measurement tools.
OpenAI first revealed its plan to put ads in ChatGPT in January 2026, and testing began in the United States on February 9. The ads target logged-in adult Free users and subscribers of ChatGPT Go, the cheaper 1500 yen per month plan. Ad slots sit below generated answers and carry a Sponsored label.
Advertisers have had the OpenAI Ads Manager beta since May, plus the OpenAI Pixel and Conversions API for measuring purchases and signups, and more than 50 partners supply ad tech. The US test spread to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, then to Japan, the UK, Mexico, Brazil, and South Korea on August 11. On August 31, self-service buying opened in India, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
OpenAI says the ad delivery system and the answer generation system are separate, so advertisers cannot change answers or manipulate ranking, and that advertisers receive no chat content, memory, name, email, exact location, or IP address.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- GIGAZINE ChatGPTの広告事業が開始200日足らずで年換算約1600億円に