For years, advertising within a chatbot was a theoretical possibility that featured in trend presentations. In 2026, that is no longer the case. The 5 May 2026, OpenAI launched the beta version of its ChatGPT Self-Service Ads Manager And, for the first time, any advertiser in the US can buy advertising space within the chat function without going through a sales team or meeting a minimum spend of $50,000. It’s a move that changes more than just a channel: it redefines where users’ attention lies and where a brand can appear when someone is asking questions, comparing options or making a decision.
What exactly is ChatGPT Ads Manager?
Ads Manager is the self-service platform that OpenAI has built to enable advertisers to create, launch and measure campaigns within ChatGPT. Until a few weeks ago, advertising within the chat was a closed experiment: OpenAI was working with a handful of brands in a pilot scheme, using cost-per-impression (CPM) pricing and financial barriers that excluded SMEs and a large part of the mid-market. With the new Ads Manager, OpenAI is removing that minimum threshold and opening up cost-per-click (CPC) advertising, budgets set by the advertiser and metrics accessible via a dedicated dashboard, according to the official statement from OpenAI.
In operational terms, the process is similar to what any media buyer is familiar with from Google Ads or Meta Ads: registering as an advertiser, setting up a payment method, defining a budget, bid and pacing, uploading creatives, launching the campaign and monitoring performance via the dashboard. The difference lies in the inventory: the creative does not appear in a feed or alongside a SERP, but is integrated into the conversation the user has with the chatbot.
Why this launch is significant (beyond the headline)
The economic data helps to gauge the current situation. According to Axios, OpenAI has publicly set its sights on $2.5 billion in advertising revenue by 2026 and a target of 100 billion by 2030. A a Reuters report cited by Search Engine Journal He pointed out that the initial pilot had already generated over $100 million in revenue during its first six weeks. These figures confirm something that is hard for an agency to dispute: the market for AI-powered assistants is not an emerging market that is still being tested; it is a market that agencies and platforms are already entering on a structural basis.
In fact, OpenAI has confirmed partnerships with companies such as Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP and with adtech platforms such as Adobe, Criteo, Kargo, Pacvue and StackAdapt, suggesting that programmatic buying and cross-channel planning will also be able to incorporate ChatGPT as just another channel. I cannot confirm the exact details of each integration at the time of writing, but the official list of partners published by OpenAI makes it clear that the channel is being integrated to fit into the existing stack, rather than operating as a standalone entity.
What does this mean in practice for a brand or an SME?
Firstly, the entry cost. The removal of the $50,000 minimum threshold opens the door for any brand to carry out real-world tests on a controlled budget. For a Spanish SME, this means that testing the channel no longer requires an investment equivalent to several annual campaigns and instead becomes, in terms of scale, similar to an initial test on Google Ads or Meta Ads. It is worth noting that initial availability is for advertisers in the United States, so access from Spain still depends on OpenAI’s expansion schedule. Until the service launches in Europe, the key takeaway for local brands is to prepare, not improvise.
Secondly, the change in the bidding model. Moving from CPM to CPC is not just a technical detail; it is a shift in how investment is evaluated. With CPC, the cost is only incurred when the user clicks on the ad unit that appears in the conversation. For a brand accustomed to measuring performance, this logic fits better with the rest of the stack: it allows for the creation of comparable funnels and the measurement of conversion by channel using more uniform criteria.
And thirdly, and probably most strategically: the inventory is context-dependent. On Google, the keyword triggers an intent; on Meta, the targeting triggers a hypothesis; on ChatGPT Ads Manager, ...what triggers the opportunity is the actual conversation the user is having with the model at that very moment. This forces us to rethink the message and the creative approach. The ad unit that works here isn’t the one that shouts out a promotion; it’s the one that responds to the query the user has already voiced.
How it fits into the bigger picture: Google, Meta and agentic search
OpenAI’s move comes at a time when the advertising ecosystem is undergoing a major shake-up. At the end of May, in Google Marketing Live 2026, Google unveiled Ask an Advisor and reinforced its commitment to programmatic advertising within Google Ads, Analytics, Merchant Center and the marketing platform. Meta, for its part, has consolidated its architecture Andromeda, where automatic ranking based on deep learning is gaining ground over manual segmentation. Meanwhile, the UK regulator (CMA) has demanded that Google give publishers more control over how their content is used in AI-powered searches.
The overall picture is quite clear: user attention is shifting between traditional search engines, conversational assistants and agents that carry out actions on the user’s behalf. Those who previously profited from pure SEO and SEM will have to decide how to also appear in spaces where AI mediates the conversation. ChatGPT Ads Manager does not turn OpenAI into the new Google overnight, but it does confirm that advertising inventory in assistants is going to be a real and measurable lever, not just a keynote promise.
What you should be doing for your brand from today
Although the initial launch is aimed at US advertisers, there are three steps that already make sense for a European brand or SME:
- Check your visibility in AI-generated responses. Before you consider bidding within ChatGPT, it’s worth finding out how ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity describe your brand today. If your brand appears with out-of-date information, listing errors or without any business context, no advert will make up for a poor organic search result.
- Work on the AI-driven content layer. What you provide to a customer on your website is what the model uses. A clear structure, specific FAQs, verifiable data and a properly configured llms.txt file form the basis of any strategy that aims to be present when a user asks a question via a chatbot.
- Define your own KPIs for conversational channels. If you wait for the perfect dashboard to appear, you’ll be too late. Deciding now what to measure (assisted clicks, attributed conversions, ROAS by conversation channel) will allow you to make a fair comparison when the launch reaches Europe.
What we’ll be looking at from Vandelay
For us, this launch marks a turning point for one very specific reason: until now, the debate surrounding AI advertising has been theoretical and almost exclusively English-speaking. With CPC, no minimum spend and a self-service portal, the channel is now within reach of real marketing teams, with real budgets and real business objectives. This forces agencies to learn quickly which creatives work, which buyer journeys are most profitable, which product types are best suited to a conversational response, and how to integrate all of this into a client’s overall media plan.
If your brand is already investing in Google Ads, Meta Ads or LinkedIn Ads, the next logical step is to have a clear strategy in place for when ChatGPT Ads Launch in Europe. Not just to be there on day one for the sake of it, but to arrive with a plan: which product you’re going to promote, with what message, against which KPIs, and how you’re going to integrate it with your current metrics. As soon as the European launch is confirmed, we’ll tell you all about it here, using the same criteria we apply to any platform: verifiable data, cited sources and case studies.
Sources consulted for this article: OpenAI – New ways to buy ChatGPT ads, Axios – OpenAI launches a self-service advertising platform, Search Engine Journal y EasyInsights – ChatGPT Ads Manager review.
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