Maya Robertson
OpenAI is expanding its advertising business with a new visual ad format for ChatGPT and a wider set of third-party measurement integrations, as the company works to give advertisers more ways to measure campaign performance across the platform.
The new format will initially be tested in the U.S. later in October and will appear while users are generating images in ChatGPT. Rather than placing the advertisement inside the generated image, OpenAI will display the sponsored content separately while the image generation process is underway.
The company said the format is intended to give advertisers more room to use visual creative, including imagery showing products, how they are used and the experiences associated with them. The initial test will involve a limited group of advertisers before OpenAI determines whether to expand the format more broadly.
OpenAI maintains that ads are separate from ChatGPT’s organic responses and do not influence the answers users receive.
The visual format represents another step in the development of ChatGPT Ads, which has been gradually adding formats, buying tools and measurement capabilities as OpenAI builds an advertising business around its growing consumer audience.
OpenAI says ChatGPT now reaches around 1.2 billion people each week, providing the company with a large potential advertising audience alongside its existing subscription business. The latest expansion, however, is focused as much on measurement as additional inventory.
OpenAI is introducing integrations with several advertising data and attribution companies to give marketers more visibility into whether ChatGPT campaigns lead to conversions outside the platform.
For conversion data, the company is working with Hightouch, Tealium and LiveRamp. Attribution partners include AppsFlyer, Triple Whale and Kochava, extending measurement to outcomes across both web and app environments.
OpenAI is also exploring geo-based incrementality measurement with Haus, Measured and WorkMagic, giving advertisers another way to evaluate whether campaigns generate additional outcomes that would not have occurred without the advertising exposure.
The integrations could help move ChatGPT advertising beyond measurement based primarily on impressions, clicks and direct conversions.
That has become increasingly important as advertisers attempt to understand the role conversational AI plays in the customer journey. A ChatGPT user may research a product, compare alternatives or ask follow-up questions before making a purchase without necessarily following a conventional click-to-conversion path.
OpenAI’s existing Ads Manager provides metrics including impressions, clicks, spend, click-through rate, average CPC, average CPM and conversions. Advertisers can also use tracking parameters to connect ChatGPT traffic with their existing analytics infrastructure.
The new partnerships add external measurement companies to that system, potentially allowing marketers to compare ChatGPT performance with other advertising channels through tools they already use.
OpenAI is also addressing another requirement for larger advertising budgets: brand suitability. The company is beginning controlled pilots with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science (IAS) to assess whether advertisements are appearing in contexts that meet advertisers’ suitability requirements.
Brand suitability works differently in a conversational AI environment than on a conventional publisher website or social media feed. ChatGPT conversations are generated dynamically and can move between subjects through a series of user prompts rather than appearing alongside predetermined editorial or user-generated content.
ChatGPT Ads initially focused on sponsored units shown separately below organic responses. OpenAI has since been expanding the types of advertising available through the service, including commerce-oriented formats and product advertising.
The new visual placement takes a different approach by using the time during which ChatGPT is completing an image-generation task.
Users requesting an AI-generated image typically wait while the model processes and creates the output. OpenAI is now testing whether that period can function as advertising inventory without placing commercial content directly inside the resulting image.
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