ChatGPT Ads are expanding to 31 European countries

OpenAI is bringing ChatGPT Ads to its biggest group of new markets yet, giving European advertisers access to an emerging ad channel built around conversations rather than traditional search queries or social feeds.

What’s happening: ChatGPT Ads will expand to 31 European countries next week, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria.

Advertisers won’t initially get direct self-service access. Campaigns will be available through OpenAI’s Ads Solutions team, agency partners and technology partners, with self-service access through Ads Manager expected later this summer.

The details: Ads will continue to appear only for people using ChatGPT’s Free and Go plans.

Plus, Pro and Enterprise users will remain ad-free.

OpenAI says ads are clearly labeled and kept separate from ChatGPT’s answers. Advertisers don’t receive users’ conversations, and advertising doesn’t influence the answers ChatGPT generates.

Why we care: The European expansion significantly increases the potential scale of ChatGPT as an advertising channel.

But the more interesting proposition for marketers is where those ads can appear in the customer journey.

People increasingly use ChatGPT to research products, compare alternatives and work through purchasing decisions by explaining their goals, preferences and constraints in natural language.

That creates an opportunity for advertisers to reach users while they’re actively evaluating what to do or buy — potentially providing a richer intent signal than a standalone keyword or passive social impression.

By the numbers: OpenAI began testing ChatGPT Ads in the U.S. in February and says it has since expanded to eight additional markets. Adding 31 European markets represents its largest geographic expansion so far.

OpenAI also says tens of thousands of marketers have now advertised on ChatGPT.

Meanwhile: The ad platform itself has been evolving quickly.

OpenAI says it has:

• Expanded beyond CPM and CPC bidding to include conversion optimization.
• Added geo-targeting and custom audiences.
• Introduced the OpenAI Pixel and Conversions API to measure outcomes beyond clicks.
• Added third-party measurement integrations.

Those additions move ChatGPT Ads closer to the targeting, optimization and measurement infrastructure advertisers expect from established performance advertising platforms.

The big picture: OpenAI is moving rapidly from an experimental U.S. advertising product toward a global advertising platform. Europe is a major step in that transition. The bigger question is whether marketers can turn ChatGPT’s conversational intent into measurable performance — and whether OpenAI can scale advertising without undermining the trust that makes those conversations valuable in the first place.