ChatGPT ads now appear in nearly half of gaming chats, data shows

OpenAI's advertising business has reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate less than 200 days after launching in February, the company announced in late August, marking one of the fastest ad platform ramp-ups in recent memory. The milestone underscores how quickly the AI company has built a commercial advertising operation atop its flagship chatbot, even as it simultaneously rolls out new ad formats and expands globally.openai+2

Rapid Growth and Global Expansion

The trajectory has been steep. OpenAI's ad pilot was running at roughly $100 million in annualized revenue about six weeks after its U.S. launch in February, with just over 600 advertisers in the program. The opening of a self-serve Ads Manager in May, combined with international expansion, drove the tenfold increase. OpenAI said it has opened self-serve buying to advertisers in India, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, with tens of thousands of advertisers now active across more than 40 countries. Brands including Target ↘ 1.74%, Ford ↘ 1.22%, HelloFresh ↗ 3.81%, and Audible have already bought in, and Criteo ↘ 1.78%, one of OpenAI's ad tech partners, reports that ChatGPT ad traffic converts at 1.5 times the rate of other referral channels. Equativ, the independent media platform, also announced it has become a ChatGPT Ads technology partner, joining a select group helping brands advertise within the platform.inc+5

New Formats and Integrations

OpenAI is now testing Sponsored Agents, a feature that lets users start a conversation with a business-sponsored agent after clicking an ad in ChatGPT, Reuters reported. The agents are clearly labeled and remain separate from ChatGPT's independent responses. The feature is being tested with select U.S. advertisers. New integrations with HubSpot ↗ 3.74%, OpenAI's first CRM partner, and Shopify ↘ 3.66%, its first ecommerce partner, are bringing ad tools into platforms businesses already use. In India, jewellery brand Tanishq has become an early advertiser, running campaigns for its Gold Exchange and wedding collections during the festive season.socialsamosa+2

Ads Are Spreading Across Conversations

Separately, data from Comscore's Q2 2026 AI Intelligence Report shows ads are becoming more common inside ChatGPT conversations. Sponsored ads appeared in 47% of video gaming conversations tracked on U.S. desktops in June, up from 3% in March. Ads in toys and hobbies discussions rose from 5% to 24% over the same period. The June spike coincided with the first full month after the self-serve Ads Manager began rolling out. Still, the data carries caveats: Comscore's methodology is based on an opt-in U.S. desktop panel and does not specify conversation volumes behind each figure. OpenAI has said ads appear only for free-tier and logged-out users, while paid subscribers remain ad-free.searchenginejournal+2