{"dataset":"ChatGPT Ads timeline","url":"https://kuldeep.cc/data/chatgpt-ads/timeline","creator":"Kuldeep Paul (kuldeep.cc)","license":"CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","updated":"2026-10-29","rows":[{"id":1,"date":"2025-09-24","title":"OpenAI job listings signal an in-house ads platform","detail":"Job postings describe building advertising infrastructure for ChatGPT.","type":"signal","sourceUrl":"https://ppc.land/chatgpt-ad-cpms-drop-to-25-as-openai-races-toward-global-auction/","sourceDomain":"ppc.land"},{"id":2,"date":"2025-12-02","title":"\"Code red\" pauses ad work","detail":"OpenAI redirects resources toward ChatGPT product quality, pausing advertising development.","type":"signal","sourceUrl":"https://ppc.land/chatgpt-ad-cpms-drop-to-25-as-openai-races-toward-global-auction/","sourceDomain":"ppc.land"},{"id":3,"date":"2026-01-16","title":"OpenAI announces ads are coming to ChatGPT","detail":"Testing planned for adult Free and Go users in the US; Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise stay ad-free. ChatGPT Go launches at $8/month the same day.","type":"announcement","sourceUrl":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/16/open-ai-chatgpt-ads-us.html","sourceDomain":"cnbc.com"},{"id":4,"date":"2026-01-27","title":"$60 CPM pricing reported","detail":"The Information reports a $60 CPM baseline for ChatGPT placements.","type":"pricing","sourceUrl":"https://ppc.land/chatgpt-ad-cpms-drop-to-25-as-openai-races-toward-global-auction/","sourceDomain":"ppc.land"},{"id":5,"date":"2026-02-09","title":"US pilot goes live","detail":"Ads begin showing to logged-in adult Free and Go users in the US. Launch agencies include Omnicom, WPP and Dentsu; reported minimum commitment $200K–$250K.","type":"launch","sourceUrl":"https://openai.com/ja-JP/index/testing-ads-in-chatgpt/","sourceDomain":"openai.com"},{"id":6,"date":"2026-02-09","title":"Albertsons, Target and Williams-Sonoma confirm participation","detail":"Retailers announce they are among the first advertisers in the OpenAI ad pilot.","type":"advertisers","sourceUrl":"https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260209314733/en/Albertsons-Companies-Announces-Participation-in-OpenAI-Advertising-Pilot-Program","sourceDomain":"businesswire.com"},{"id":7,"date":"2026-02-20","title":"First independent ad sightings measured","detail":"Adthena finds ads in 0.8% of 500+ analysed prompts; Expedia, Qualcomm, Best Buy and Enterprise Mobility among confirmed advertisers.","type":"measurement","sourceUrl":"https://ppc.land/chatgpt-ad-cpms-drop-to-25-as-openai-races-toward-global-auction/","sourceDomain":"ppc.land"},{"id":8,"date":"2026-03-02","title":"Criteo becomes first ad tech partner","detail":"Criteo connects its advertiser base (~17,000) to the US pilot.","type":"partners","sourceUrl":"https://ppc.land/openai-opens-chatgpt-ads-manager-to-all-us-businesses-with-cpc-bidding/","sourceDomain":"ppc.land"},{"id":9,"date":"2026-03-11","title":"Ads Manager dashboard enters testing","detail":"A small group of partners gets an early Ads Manager.","type":"tooling","sourceUrl":"https://ppc.land/chatgpt-ad-cpms-drop-to-25-as-openai-races-toward-global-auction/","sourceDomain":"ppc.land"},{"id":10,"date":"2026-03-23","title":"Former Meta executive hired to lead ad sales","detail":"Dave Dugan joins OpenAI to lead global ad solutions.","type":"people","sourceUrl":"https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/openai-taps-former-meta-executive-to-lead-ad-push,260765","sourceDomain":"editorandpublisher.com"},{"id":11,"date":"2026-03-26","title":"$100M annualised revenue; pilot expands","detail":"Reuters reports a $100M annualised run rate six weeks in. Pilot opens in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.","type":"milestone","sourceUrl":"https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/openais-us-ad-pilot-exceeds-100-million-annualized-revenue-six-weeks-2026-03-26/","sourceDomain":"reuters.com"},{"id":12,"date":"2026-04-10","title":"Self-serve Ads Manager quietly launches; minimum drops to $50K","detail":"CPC bidding appears with $3–$5 recommended bids; minimum commitment cut from $250K to $50K.","type":"pricing","sourceUrl":"https://ppc.land/openai-opens-chatgpt-ads-manager-to-all-us-businesses-with-cpc-bidding/","sourceDomain":"ppc.land"},{"id":13,"date":"2026-04-16","title":"StackAdapt joins as DSP partner","detail":"Ad Age reports StackAdapt is selling ChatGPT inventory.","type":"partners","sourceUrl":"https://adage.com/technology/ai/aa-chatgpt-openai-ads-early-promise-ad-buyers/","sourceDomain":"adage.com"},{"id":14,"date":"2026-04-17","title":"CPMs fall from $60 to as low as $25","detail":"Digiday reports buyer CPMs of $25–$35; Ad Age reports some as low as $15.","type":"pricing","sourceUrl":"https://digiday.com/marketing/openai-builds-offerings-on-consent-as-it-expands-chatgpt-ads-to-europe/","sourceDomain":"digiday.com"},{"id":15,"date":"2026-04-21","title":"OAI-AdsBot documented","detail":"OpenAI adds the OAI-AdsBot landing-page verification crawler to its public bot docs.","type":"policy","sourceUrl":"https://ppc.land/openai-opens-chatgpt-ads-manager-to-all-us-businesses-with-cpc-bidding/","sourceDomain":"ppc.land"},{"id":16,"date":"2026-04-23","title":"Ads extend to logged-out users","detail":"AdExchanger reports ads appearing for logged-out ChatGPT sessions.","type":"inventory","sourceUrl":"https://www.adexchanger.com/ai/chatgpt-ads-have-begun-showing-up-for-logged-out-users/","sourceDomain":"adexchanger.com"},{"id":17,"date":"2026-04-30","title":"Privacy policy updated for ads","detail":"OpenAI's US privacy policy discloses receipt of advertiser purchase data.","type":"policy","sourceUrl":"https://ppc.land/openai-opens-chatgpt-ads-manager-to-all-us-businesses-with-cpc-bidding/","sourceDomain":"ppc.land"},{"id":18,"date":"2026-05-05","title":"Self-serve Ads Manager beta opens to US advertisers","detail":"CPC bidding, a pixel and Conversions API launch; Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP plus Adobe, Criteo, Kargo, Pacvue and StackAdapt named partners.","type":"tooling","sourceUrl":"https://www.searchenginejournal.com/openai-launches-self-serve-ads-manager-for-chatgpt/573971/","sourceDomain":"searchenginejournal.com"},{"id":19,"date":"2026-05-07","title":"Expansion plan for UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, South Korea","detail":"OpenAI says the pilot will reach five more markets within weeks.","type":"expansion","sourceUrl":"https://openai.com/ja-JP/index/testing-ads-in-chatgpt/","sourceDomain":"openai.com"},{"id":20,"date":"2026-05-29","title":"Self-serve minimum spend removed","detail":"The $50K minimum is dropped for self-serve; daily budgets start at $25.","type":"pricing","sourceUrl":"https://www.briefs.co/news/openai-chatgpt-ads-small-businesses/","sourceDomain":"briefs.co"},{"id":21,"date":"2026-06-05","title":"CPA (conversion-optimised) bidding activated","detail":"Conversion-optimised campaigns become available in the US self-serve beta.","type":"tooling","sourceUrl":"https://barefoot-performance.com/resources/chatgpt-ads-conversions-api-server-side-gtm","sourceDomain":"barefoot-performance.com"},{"id":22,"date":"2026-06-06","title":"UK becomes first European market","detail":"Ads go live in the United Kingdom.","type":"expansion","sourceUrl":"https://www.similarweb.com/blog/marketing/advertising/chatgpt-ad-stats/","sourceDomain":"similarweb.com"},{"id":23,"date":"2026-06-08","title":"Active advertisers jump 46% in a week","detail":"Similarweb tracks 2,585 → 3,770 weekly active advertisers; 5,171 unique since 30 March.","type":"measurement","sourceUrl":"https://www.similarweb.com/blog/marketing/advertising/chatgpt-ad-stats/","sourceDomain":"similarweb.com"},{"id":24,"date":"2026-07-15","title":"Policy update opens finance and health categories","detail":"Certain US financial-services and health categories become eligible case by case.","type":"policy","sourceUrl":"https://dialogueads.com/guide/ad-policy","sourceDomain":"dialogueads.com"},{"id":25,"date":"2026-07-24","title":"Product ads gain prices and star ratings","detail":"Product feed ads begin showing price and review data.","type":"format","sourceUrl":"https://searchengineland.com/openai-starts-testing-chatgpt-ads-468593","sourceDomain":"searchengineland.com"},{"id":26,"date":"2026-08-06","title":"Product carousels, oCPC and URL macros ship","detail":"Multi-product carousel, oCPC beta for product feed campaigns and dynamic URL macros.","type":"format","sourceUrl":"https://www.seroundtable.com/openai-chatgpt-ads-updates-41828.html","sourceDomain":"seroundtable.com"},{"id":27,"date":"2026-08-11","title":"Ads live in UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea","detail":"OpenAI confirms the five-market expansion.","type":"expansion","sourceUrl":"https://openai.com/ja-JP/index/testing-ads-in-chatgpt/","sourceDomain":"openai.com"},{"id":28,"date":"2026-08-24","title":"ChatGPT ads launch in 31 European countries","detail":"Consent-first rollout including Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.","type":"expansion","sourceUrl":"https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/topnews/2026/08/19/la-pubblicita-sbarca-su-chatgpt-da-lunedi-anche-in-europa-nella-versione-gratuita_2d510f72-8e3b-4517-9e28-d4a7de0a41cb.html","sourceDomain":"ansa.it"},{"id":29,"date":"2026-08-27","title":"India launch with ₹725 daily minimum","detail":"Ads reach logged-in adults on Free and Go in India; WPP and Omnicom named launch agencies, 50+ brands live.","type":"expansion","sourceUrl":"https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/openai-launches-chatgpt-ads-in-india-for-free-and-go-users/article71395054.ece","sourceDomain":"thehindubusinessline.com"},{"id":30,"date":"2026-08-31","title":"$1B annualised run rate in under 200 days","detail":"OpenAI cites 1B+ weekly users, 40+ countries and a $500 credit match for new advertisers.","type":"milestone","sourceUrl":"https://www.sprites.ai/chatgpt-ads","sourceDomain":"sprites.ai"},{"id":31,"date":"2026-09-04","title":"Self-serve opens in India","detail":"Indian advertisers get Ads Manager access.","type":"tooling","sourceUrl":"https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/openai-launches-chatgpt-ads-in-india-for-free-and-go-users/article71395054.ece","sourceDomain":"thehindubusinessline.com"},{"id":32,"date":"2026-09-09","title":"AI image and audio tool ads restricted","detail":"The Information reports OpenAI stopped approving ads for standalone AI image/audio tools.","type":"policy","sourceUrl":"https://dialogueads.com/guide/ad-policy","sourceDomain":"dialogueads.com"},{"id":33,"date":"2026-09-14","title":"Sponsored Agents: first AI-native ad format","detail":"Select clients test ads that open a chat with the brand's own AI agent; Wayfair in pilot.","type":"format","sourceUrl":"https://digiday.com/marketing/openais-next-chatgpt-ad-format-click-to-chat-not-to-site/","sourceDomain":"digiday.com"},{"id":34,"date":"2026-09-17","title":"Shopify storefront integration","detail":"ChatGPT Ads integration announced for Shopify merchants.","type":"partners","sourceUrl":"https://www.emarketer.com/content/openai-expands-chatgpt-ads-shopify-storefronts","sourceDomain":"emarketer.com"},{"id":35,"date":"2026-09-22","title":"Equativ joins as technology partner","detail":"Equativ launches Ad Studio for ChatGPT Ads.","type":"partners","sourceUrl":"https://www.equativ.com/press/equativ-brings-chatgpt-ads-to-brands-as-advertising-partner","sourceDomain":"equativ.com"},{"id":36,"date":"2026-09-23","title":"Asia expansion takes ChatGPT Ads past 60 countries","detail":"Seven more Asian markets including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.","type":"expansion","sourceUrl":"https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-southeast-asia-taiwan/","sourceDomain":"openai.com"},{"id":37,"date":"2026-10-18","title":"Multi-image visual format during image generation","detail":"OpenAI rewrites its ads help article and introduces a multi-image ad format.","type":"format","sourceUrl":"https://soku.ai/blog/chatgpt-ads-image-generation-visual-ad-format","sourceDomain":"soku.ai"},{"id":38,"date":"2026-10-21","title":"26 more countries; 100,000+ advertisers","detail":"ChatGPT Ads reaches 89 countries; more than 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns.","type":"milestone","sourceUrl":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/21/openai-chatgpt-ads-26-countries.html","sourceDomain":"cnbc.com"},{"id":39,"date":"2026-10-26","title":"Multi-image ads open beta in Ads Manager","detail":"4–6 square images sharing one title and body.","type":"format","sourceUrl":"https://soku.ai/blog/chatgpt-ads-image-generation-visual-ad-format","sourceDomain":"soku.ai"}]}