ChatGPT ads: how advertising in ChatGPT works and where it is available

Since 2026, ChatGPT has ads. OpenAI started testing ChatGPT Ads in the United States in February and, within eight months, took it to 89 countries, including Chile since October 21. For a marketing manager it is a new channel with a huge audience; for anyone working on reputation and AI visibility, it raises a more important question: is it better to pay to appear next to the answer or to work to appear inside it?

This guide summarizes how advertising in ChatGPT works according to OpenAI's official announcements, where it is available, who sees the ads, how they are bought and how it differs from being cited organically.

How ChatGPT ads work

According to OpenAI's official post "Testing ads in ChatGPT", published on February 9, 2026 and updated several times, the system follows these rules:

• Free and Go plans only, and only for logged-in adult users. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education have no ads.
• Labeled and separated. Ads are marked as sponsored and visually separated from the answer.
• Chosen by context. OpenAI picks the ad based on the topic of the conversation, past chats and past interactions with ads. The company's example: someone researching recipes may see ads for meal kits or grocery delivery.
• No access to conversations. Advertisers only receive aggregate data such as views and clicks.
• Excluded topics. Ads are not shown to users OpenAI identifies or predicts to be under 18, nor near sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health or politics.

Users can dismiss ads, see why a given ad is shown, delete their ad data and, on the free tier, opt out of ads in exchange for fewer daily messages.

ChatGPT Ads timeline: from a pilot to 89 countries

The rollout was fast. These are the milestones OpenAI added to its official announcements:

1. Feb 9, 2026Test in the United StatesFree and Go plans, adult users.
2. Mar 26, 2026Canada, Australia and New ZealandFirst pilots outside the US.
3. Aug 11, 2026Mexico and BrazilAlso the UK, Japan and South Korea.
4. Aug 18, 202631 European marketsSelf-serve Ads Manager from August 31.
5. Oct 21, 2026Arrives in Chile26 more countries, 89 in total; 14 in Latin America.

Source: OpenAI and Investing.com, 2026

How much ChatGPT ads cost

OpenAI does not publish a rate card. What it did say in August is that the platform no longer sells only on impressions: it supports CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and CPC (cost per click) bidding and conversion optimization, with geo-targeting, custom audiences and measurement through the OpenAI Pixel and a Conversions API.

Price figures come from the trade press. During the pilot, OpenAI confirmed to Adweek a US$200,000 minimum commitment for early advertisers, and industry outlets reported a CPM of around US$60. Self-serve buying lowered that barrier, but there is no public rate for Chile or for the markets added in October.

There are three ways to buy: OpenAI's own sales team, agencies and technology partners, and the self-serve Ads Manager at ads.openai.com. In the 26 countries added in October, Chile included, access is through technology partners or self-serve. Check the currency, the minimum daily spend and the formats available in each market on the platform itself before building a media plan. Treat the first campaigns as a test, not as a replacement for channels that already deliver.

89Countries with ChatGPT Ads

+100,000Advertisers that have run campaigns

US$1,000 MAnnualized ad revenue run rate (August)

Source: Investing.com, October 21, 2026

View the data as a table

Countries with ChatGPT Ads	89
Advertisers that have run campaigns	+100,000
Annualized ad revenue run rate (August)	US$1,000 M

Who searches for ChatGPT ads on Google

Interest in Latin America is still small compared with the United States, but the suggested cost per click shows that the people searching are advertisers:

Source: Google Ads via DataForSEO, queried on November 9, 2026. Suggested CPC on low volumes is unstable and only works as a signal.

United States14,800

Mexico480

Colombia210

Argentina170

Chile90

Peru90

Source: Google Ads via DataForSEO, queried on November 9, 2026

View the data as a table

United States	14,800
Mexico	480
Colombia	210
Argentina	170
Chile	90
Peru	90

ChatGPT Ads vs. Google Ads

The obvious comparison is with Google Ads. Both platforms sell attention at the moment someone looks for something, but three things change:

• The signal. Google Ads is bought by keyword. In ChatGPT, OpenAI picks the ad based on the whole conversation, which usually carries more context: budget, use case, constraints.
• The audience. ChatGPT ads only reach adult users on the free or Go plans. People who pay for Plus or a business plan do not see them, and in B2B they are often the users with the most buying power.
• The categories. Health, mental health and politics are excluded. A clinic, a pharmacy or a health insurer cannot advertise there today, even though their customers ask ChatGPT every day.

Cost per click on Google varies a lot by industry and country, as we showed in our study of how much Google Ads costs in Latin America. There is no comparable public data for ChatGPT in the region yet, so any test should start with a small budget, a clear conversion goal and a record of what each customer costs compared with channels that already work.

Paying for ChatGPT ads or appearing in the answer

OpenAI's core rule is that ads do not influence the answer. That leaves a brand with two different paths. Paying for an ad guarantees presence next to the conversation while the budget lasts, only for free-plan users and away from sensitive topics. Being the brand ChatGPT recommends in its answer depends on something else: the sources the AI reads and cites, such as news sites, comparison sites, review sites and the brand's own website.

The two paths are not mutually exclusive, but the second weighs more in the user's decision. In our studies, ChatGPT names several brands per answer (see how many brands AI recommends) and mostly cites third-party sites; in Mexico, for example, we reviewed which sources ChatGPT cites across 50 buying queries.

What a brand should do about advertising in ChatGPT

1. Measure before paying. Ask ChatGPT what a customer would ask and note which brands appear and which sources it cites.
2. Test ChatGPT Ads with a capped budget if the category is not sensitive and the audience uses the free plan.
3. Work on the sources. Articles on authoritative news sites, comparison sites and reviews are what the AI reads. Our guide to how to appear in ChatGPT explains the method step by step.

If the goal is for ChatGPT to name the brand in its answer and not just beside it, that is the work of a GEO agency to appear in ChatGPT, backed by placements in real media. The media available in Chile are listed at esbuenisimolinks.com/link-building-chile.