ChatGPT’s ads have the industry excited, but insiders are frustrated
When OpenAI first announced it would run ads on ChatGPT, brands and agencies across Madison Avenue were eager to test the new format to determine their AI advertising strategies.
The high-profile announcement, much more public than a typical “alpha” test of a new format, presented a huge opportunity.
Three of the world’s largest advertising agencies are part of the testing programme: RES, omnicom And Dentsu.
So far, testing is progressing too slowly to meet expectations, according to multiple advertising industry sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details.
Sources told CNBC that OpenAI’s testing program has disappointed many of its partners due to conservative deployment.
The advertising commitments required to participate in the test were unusually high for such trials.
Some brands spent between $200,000 and $250,000 on testing; that’s twice the commitment of a typical experiential ad. For some brands, this money came from funds earmarked for innovative new formats, while others came from search or social advertising budgets.
With the pilot program set to run through the end of March, some sources told CNBC they are concerned about the slow pace of implementation, meaning it’s unlikely the full budget commitments will be spent by the end of the month.
Although the excess amount will be refunded, the budget has already been allocated to the trial and therefore cannot be transferred elsewhere during the quarter. Advertisers also won’t get the amount of analysis they hope for.
Omnicom did not respond to requests for comment. WPP declined to comment.
OpenAI told CNBC that the slow rollout of the ad schedule was intentional.
“We are in the early testing phase of ads on ChatGPT, and our current goal is to learn and improve consumers’ experience before rolling out the experience more broadly,” the company said. he said. “We are encouraged by early signals from users and participating brands, and we continue to see strong interest from advertisers.”
Japanese advertising giant Dentsu told CNBC that it sets realistic expectations for its customers to engage in testing by tapping into a pool of funding dedicated to testing and innovation.
Dentsu EVP and Head of Paid Search Meredith Spitz said it’s early days, but the firm is “keen to partner with OpenAI to further test, learn and improve the offering.”
“So far, ad delivery is rapidly gaining momentum, with volume increasing each week as the environment scales,” he said.
Sources said that despite some initial disappointment, they were encouraged by OpenAI’s response to feedback and how quickly the company was able to make changes, as well as the recent increase.
Sources told CNBC that this warning is a good sign of OpenAI’s commitment to building a sustainable and successful advertising business. But the disappointment comes from excitement about this new category and a desire to budget for ChatGPT ads and learn more about how they work.
According to the latest data from the research firm Sensor TowerThe number of ads published in mid-March increased by nearly 600% compared to the first month of the month.
Sensor Tower estimates that ads have spread to about 5% of ChatGPT mobile users, up from 1% in early March.
The opportunities for OpenAI and the AI advertising environment are still huge.
A recent Truist analyst note called 2026 a “turnaround year” for ads powered by the big language model.
“Over the next few years, we expect Masters-backed advertising channels to become one of the pillars of the digital advertising industry, alongside Search, Social and Retail Media,” the analysts wrote.
Truist predicts that OpenAI will generate less than $1 billion in advertising revenue this year, and that figure will rise to more than $30 billion by 2030.
Dentsu noted that the most value from these new ads may come from brands looking to reach ChatGPT users with very specific queries.
“Overall, we see the continued importance of aligning ad relevance with user intent, reinforcing a broader pattern of discovery through conversation; when user intent is precise, brands with focused offers and tailored messaging are best positioned to deliver relevance and value in the moment,” Spitz said.
While ads embedded in AI search are seen as having great potential by ad industry insiders and analysts, Anthropic remains cautious.
The AI giant took a shot at OpenAI in a Super Bowl ad last month, criticizing its move to ads and declaring that Anthropic’s own platform would remain ad-free. Perplexity recently removed ads from its platform after starting testing in 2024.
GoogleMeanwhile, Gemini has yet to announce its official plans for advertising, but the company has signaled in its latest reports that it will not ignore these plans.
The company already has a lot of ad inventory around AI overview results that appear next to Google search results.
The big question, according to Truist, is whether the slow rollout of OpenAI will be an advantage for industry leader Google, which will sell an estimated $252 billion in search ads this year.
