What changed
- Rebuilt as the OpenAI Ads platform guide. The screen-by-screen setup now lives in the ChatGPT Ads Manager walkthrough.
- OpenAI updated its Ad Policies.
- Self-serve opened in India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. OpenAI reported a $1B annualized run rate.
- Product carousels, oCPC beta, URL macros, Automatic Advanced Matching on by default.
- Self-serve Ads Manager Beta launched: no minimum spend, CPC bidding, Pixel and Conversions API.
What is OpenAI Ads?
OpenAI Ads is OpenAI's advertising business: sponsored placements inside ChatGPT, sold through OpenAI Ads Manager, the OpenAI Ads Solutions team and partners. Ads appear as labelled cards below an answer for logged-in adults on the Free and Go plans, and OpenAI says they never change the answer itself.
- Annualized run rate, reached in under 200 days
- $1B
- OpenAI, Aug 31, 2026
- Weekly active users on the ad-supported tier
- 1B+
- OpenAI, Aug 31, 2026
- Countries where self-serve is open
- 50+
- OpenAI help center
- Minimum daily budget in the US
- $25
- OpenAI help center
OpenAI announced ads on January 16, 2026, began serving them in the US on February 9, and opened a self-serve platform on May 5. What "OpenAI ads" means in practice is the ChatGPT ad unit: a chat card with a title, a line of copy, an image and a link, or a product ad built from a catalog. The API exposes exactly two creative types, chat_card and product_ad_template. For how the unit looks, who sees it and how it performs, read the guide to ChatGPT ads.
What is OpenAI Ads Manager?
OpenAI Ads Manager is the self-serve web platform at ads.openai.com where advertisers create, launch and measure ChatGPT ads. It is free to use, labelled Beta, and organised in three levels: campaign, ad group and ad. Advertisers often call it ChatGPT Ads Manager; it is the same product.
| Level | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Campaign | Type (Standard or Product feed), objective (Views, Clicks or Conversions), budget, dates, countries, platforms |
| Ad group | Bid strategy (Maximize results or a manual max bid) and context hints, the free-text descriptions that replace keywords |
| Ad | Title up to 50 characters, copy up to 100, one square image, a landing page |
Around the three levels sit the tools: Conversions (Pixel ID, events, Event Stream), Audiences (customer lists of 25,000+ matched users for inclusion), Feeds (catalogs for product ads), Billing and Settings (users, roles and API keys). Log in at ads.openai.com/auth/login; new accounts start at ads.openai.com/auth/signup.
How do you buy OpenAI ads?
Three routes: self-serve in OpenAI Ads Manager, the OpenAI Ads Solutions team for larger advertisers and unopened markets, or an agency or technology partner. All three buy the same inventory inside ChatGPT.
| Route | Who it suits | How to start |
|---|---|---|
| Self-serve Ads Manager | Any business in a listed country; no minimum beyond the daily budget | Sign up at ads.openai.com with a work-email OpenAI account |
| OpenAI Ads Solutions team | Larger budgets and markets where self-serve has not opened | The interest form on ads.openai.com |
| Agency and technology partners | Brands already buying through a holding company or ad platform | Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis, WPP; Adobe, Criteo, Kargo, Pacvue, StackAdapt |
Early advertisers on ads.openai.com
The self-serve steps OpenAI listsTwo rules shape every route. The business that advertises and is billed must be based in a listed country, and agencies cannot open self-serve accounts on behalf of clients: the client creates and verifies the account, then invites the agency. OpenAI's FAQ still says "ChatGPT Ads is currently in beta and in the early stages of scaling."
Is OpenAI Ads Manager available in my country?
Self-serve Ads Manager is open in more than 50 countries as of September 13, 2026, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, most of Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The legal entity that advertises and is billed must be based in a listed country.
- Countries where self-serve is open
- 50+
- OpenAI help center, Sep 2026
- Countries where ChatGPT shows ads
- 40+
- OpenAI, Aug 31, 2026
- European countries added on Aug 18, 2026
- 31
- OpenAI
OpenAI keeps the list in its availability article. Anyone can create an account, but campaigns only run for entities in a listed country.
| Region | Self-serve countries |
|---|---|
| North America | Canada, Mexico, United States |
| South America | Brazil |
| Asia Pacific | Australia, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand |
| Europe | Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom |
| Middle East and North Africa | Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia |
The legal-entity rule. The company that advertises and gets billed must be based in a listed country. Country, currency and time zone are fixed at account creation, and agencies cannot open accounts on behalf of clients.
The list lags announcements: the day after the European launch, an r/PPC poster reported Ads Manager still saying it was not available for their country (r/PPC, August 25, 2026).
How much do OpenAI ads cost?
There is no platform fee. You pay for delivery on the objective you pick: CPM on Views, CPC on Clicks, oCPC or oCPM on Conversions. The US minimum is $25 a day, OpenAI suggests starting CPC bids at $3 to $5, and billing is postpay.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Platform fee | None. Ads Manager is free to use. |
| Minimum daily budget | $25 USD; EUR and GBP 15; CAD, AUD and NZD 25; INR 725; JPY 2,500; KRW 25,000 |
| Account minimum | None since May 5, 2026. The managed pilot started at a reported $200K and fell to $50K in April. |
| Bid guidance | $3 to $5 starting CPC, the only bid figure OpenAI publishes |
| Reported CPMs | $60 at launch (press-reported); $15 to $45 after CPC bidding opened |
| Pacing | Up to 2x the daily budget in a day and 7x in a week. Budget type and objective lock at creation. |
| Billing | Postpay: charged once unpaid spend reaches a threshold assigned to the account. Expect a $50 to $100 authorization hold. |
| Launch credit | $500 in ad credit when a new advertiser spends $500 |
Budget: daily or total, with the caps printed
Billing: postpay, card on fileThe OpenAI Ads API and bulk upload
The Ads API at api.ads.openai.com/v1 covers the ad account, campaigns, ad groups, ads, uploads, conversions setup and insights, with one API key per ad account. Bulk upload takes a three-tab spreadsheet of up to 5,000 rows per tab.
The API is documented at developers.openai.com/ads. Keys are created under Settings > API Keys and each is scoped to one ad account; GET /ad_account verifies it. Partners and larger in-house teams build on it, and it is the route tools like Sprites use to build and run campaigns for you. Bulk upload (Create > Upload bulk) accepts OpenAI's schema template with campaigns, ad groups and ads tabs, limited to the Views and Clicks objectives.
How OpenAI Ads measures results
Measurement runs on the OpenAI Pixel and the Conversions API, joined by a click reference called oppref appended to every landing URL. Reports cover impressions, clicks, spend, CTR, CPC, CPM and conversions, with a 30-day default click window, a fixed one-day view-through window and no prompt-level data.
- Pixel. The
oaiqscript from bzrcdn.openai.com, keyed to a Pixel ID created under Tools > Conversions. It stores oppref in a first-party__opprefcookie. - Conversions API. Server events to bzr.openai.com, up to 1,000 per batch. Reuse one event ID across pixel and API and OpenAI counts it once.
- Partners. AppsFlyer and Adjust for apps; Fospha, Hightouch, LiveRamp, Triple Whale and WorkMagic for web and offline.
- Latency. Up to seven hours between delivery and reporting; 24 to 48 hours for attributed conversions.
OpenAI ad policies in short
Political ads are prohibited, as are adult content, dating, alcohol and tobacco, gambling, cannabis and scams. Financial services, healthcare and legal services need manual review. Every landing page must let OAI-AdsBot crawl it or the ad is rejected.
OpenAI's Ad Policies were first published in March 2026 and last updated on September 10, 2026. Creative must be truthful and clearly distinguishable from ChatGPT's own output, and landing pages must match the offer. Ads are kept away from conversations about personal health, mental health and politics. The full brand-safety picture, including where enforcement and policy do not yet match, is in the ChatGPT ads guide.
What OpenAI Ads Manager still lacks vs Google Ads and Meta
As of September 2026 there is no video, no CTA button picker, no dayparting, no frequency caps, no agency multi-account structure, no keyword or demographic targeting and no prompt-level reporting. Some of it is in press-reported tests; none of it is in the product.
| Capability | Google Ads / Meta | OpenAI Ads Manager (Sep 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Video ads | YouTube, Reels, in-stream | None. Only chat_card and product_ad_template exist. |
| CTA buttons | Selectable per ad | No picker. In early test per Digiday (May 21, 2026). |
| Dayparting / ad schedule | Yes | No. Start and end dates only. |
| Frequency caps | Yes | No. |
| Agency multi-account | MCC / Business Manager | No. Each advertiser owns its account and invites the agency. |
| App data sources | Native app events | Only via AppsFlyer, Adjust or the Conversions API. |
| Keyword targeting | Yes | No. Free-text context hints, not exact match. |
| Demographics and interests | Yes | No. |
| Prompt-level reporting | Search terms and placement reports | No. No prompt or hint-level data. |
Without dayparting or frequency caps, budget is the only pacing lever. Without keywords, context hints and ad copy do the matching.
Run OpenAI ads with Sprites
Sprites is an AI marketing agent that builds, launches, measures and optimizes ChatGPT ads next to Google and Meta from one workspace. It writes the context hints and copy, and every change waits for your approval.
The ChatGPT Ads Playbook (free PDF)Setup checklist, context-hint worksheet, creative templates and a 30-day test plan.
ChatGPT ads libraryReal sponsored cards by advertiser and industry, with the prompt behind each one.
AI ads, explainedAds made by AI, run by AI and shown inside AI assistants: where ChatGPT fits.Every ads library on Sprites
Search any advertiser by name, or open the library for the platform you are buying on.
Frequently asked questions
What is OpenAI Ads?
OpenAI Ads is OpenAI's advertising product: sponsored cards and product ads shown inside ChatGPT to logged-in adults on the Free and Go plans. Businesses buy them self-serve in OpenAI Ads Manager at ads.openai.com, through the OpenAI Ads Solutions team, or through agency and technology partners.
Does OpenAI run ads?
Yes. OpenAI has shown ads in ChatGPT since February 9, 2026, starting in the US, and by August 31, 2026 ads ran in more than 40 countries. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans are ad-free, and Free users can choose an Ads-Free option with lower message limits.
Is OpenAI Ads Manager the same as ChatGPT Ads Manager?
Yes. OpenAI names the platform OpenAI Ads Manager; advertisers often call it ChatGPT Ads Manager because the ads run in ChatGPT. It is one product at ads.openai.com, and searches for open AI ads manager or the OpenAI ads platform land on it too. The step-by-step setup is in the ChatGPT Ads Manager walkthrough on this site.
Is the OpenAI Ads Manager beta still open, and is there a waitlist?
It is open and there is no waitlist in the more than 50 countries where self-serve is available; OpenAI still marks the product Beta in the interface. Advertisers elsewhere can register to be notified or contact the OpenAI Ads Solutions team.
Is OpenAI Ads Manager free to use?
Yes. There is no platform fee or subscription. You pay only for delivery, billed postpay once unpaid spend reaches the threshold OpenAI assigns to your account. New advertisers also see a promotion: spend $500 by September 27 and receive $500 in credit.
Is there a minimum spend for OpenAI ads?
No account-level minimum. The only floor is the minimum daily campaign budget: $25 in the United States, 15 in EUR and GBP, 25 in CAD, AUD and NZD, 725 INR, 2,500 JPY and 25,000 KRW. The $200,000 minimum applied only to the managed pilot.
Where is the OpenAI Ads Manager login?
The login page is ads.openai.com/auth/login and new accounts start at ads.openai.com/auth/signup. The older openai.com/advertisers address redirects to ads.openai.com. Sign in with the OpenAI account tied to your work email.
Can an agency run OpenAI ads for me?
Yes, but the account must be yours. OpenAI does not let agencies create self-serve accounts on behalf of clients, and there is no multi-account layer like Google MCC. Your business creates and verifies the account, then invites the agency with a role. Agencies can also buy through OpenAI's partner program.
Does OpenAI Ads have an API?
Yes. The Ads API lives at api.ads.openai.com/v1, documented at developers.openai.com/ads, with endpoints for the ad account, campaigns, ad groups, ads, uploads, conversions setup and insights. Keys are created under Settings > API Keys and each is scoped to a single ad account.
How do I contact OpenAI Ads support?
Email [email protected] with the account name, campaign name and ad details. For a "Not serving" status, first hover the ad in the Ads tab: the reason is usually billing, verification, a rejection, a bid above the budget, or an unlisted country.
Run ChatGPT ads next to Google and Meta, from one place
Sprites builds, launches, measures and optimizes your OpenAI ads with your Google and Meta campaigns. Book a demo and we will walk through it on your accounts.