OpenAI officially launched advertising on ChatGPT in January 2026, and the response from major brands has been immediate. What was once speculation has become reality, and early adopters are already testing how conversational AI advertising reshapes brand engagement.

The first wave of advertisers reveals a deliberate strategy. Adobe, Audible, Target, Williams-Sonoma, Ford, Mazda, Mrs Meyer’s, and luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet are among the brands testing the platform. These aren’t random selections. Each targets what OpenAI believes is the core ChatGPT user: thoughtful, aspirational, and upwardly mobile.

How the Ads actually work

ChatGPT ads appear at the bottom of answers in clearly labelled boxes when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on the current conversation. Unlike traditional search ads that interrupt browsing, these placements integrate into natural dialogue. A user asking about project management software might see a sponsored result from a relevant brand. Someone requesting book recommendations could encounter an Audible placement.

The distinction matters. OpenAI has implemented an “Answer Independence” principle, ensuring advertisements never influence the AI’s responses. ChatGPT generates its answer first, completely separate from advertising considerations. Only then does the system determine whether to display relevant sponsored content.

For now, ads only appear for Free tier users and ChatGPT Go subscribers at $8 per month. Plus, Team and Enterprise subscribers remain in ad-free environments. This targeting focuses on cost-conscious consumers who demonstrate high engagement with AI tools but maintain budget awareness.

Why brands are moving quickly

The opportunity is significant. Traffic from ChatGPT to Target has been growing 40% on average each month. That growth trajectory explains why brands are committing substantial budgets early. Reports suggest OpenAI is seeking advertisers with approximately $1 million in spending commitments for the initial programme.

Adobe’s involvement extends beyond simple ad placement. The company is working closely with OpenAI to explore how advertising can be thoughtfully integrated into ChatGPT to deliver meaningful brand visibility and customer engagement. This partnership builds on Adobe’s recent introduction of Photoshop, Adobe Express, and Acrobat apps for ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users.

Target’s approach demonstrates the strategic thinking behind early adoption. The retailer views the pilot as part of its broader agentic commerce strategy, which includes launching the Target app in ChatGPT and partnering with Google to develop the Universal Commerce Protocol. The goal is to understand how to connect customers to the right products faster in conversational moments.

What makes it different

Advertising inside a chatbot is different from placing a banner ad on a news site. ChatGPT users aren’t passively scrolling. They’re actively asking questions, which creates high-intent engagement.

Consider the user behaviour. Someone asking ChatGPT for help designing something represents an active problem-solver seeking solutions. That’s fundamentally different from someone scrolling through social media feeds. The intent is explicit, not inferred.

The first wave of brands reflects this understanding. Adobe targets creative professionals. Audible reaches readers. Williams-Sonoma speaks to home-focused consumers who value quality. Ford and Mazda position themselves around practical style. Even the luxury outlier, Audemars Piguet, markets to status-conscious professionals who value heritage and engineering.

None of these is discount-focused, impulse-buy brands. They’re mass-premium, taste-driven, and oriented around self-improvement. The pattern suggests OpenAI has profiled its user base carefully and selected advertisers accordingly.

The financial reality driving this

OpenAI isn’t profitable yet. Internal documents show the company planning $1 billion in free user monetisation starting in 2026, potentially growing to $25 billion by 2029. At that scale, advertising becomes essential beyond subscriptions and add-ons.

Separate reporting indicates OpenAI expects $20 billion in annualised revenue by the end of 2025, with up to 20% coming from shopping and advertising-related features. The financial targets make clear that ads aren’t optional. They’re fundamental to the business model.

CEO Sam Altman has acknowledged there are advertising models that would be “very bad” and others that could be “pretty good.” The current approach attempts to thread that needle by keeping ads separate from answers, maintaining user privacy, and allowing opt-out through paid tiers.

What marketers need to understand

ChatGPT advertising demands different thinking. Traditional keyword bidding gives way to conversational context targeting. Display metrics shift towards engagement depth rather than click-through rates. Creative requirements prioritise helpful recommendations over promotional messaging.

The platform prohibits advertising in sensitive categories, including healthcare treatments, financial products requiring licensing, political campaigns, and adult content. Even within allowed categories, ads must avoid absolute claims, exploiting vulnerabilities, or mimicking ChatGPT’s conversational style. Policy violations result in ad disapproval, with repeated violations leading to account suspension.

For brands not ready to commit significant budgets, alternative approaches exist. ChatGPT already mentions brands and cites sources in its responses. Getting featured organically requires what some agencies call “OmniSEO”, which focuses on making brand content machine-readable and ensuring clarity in how information is structured.

The broader implications

This launch represents the most significant shift in digital advertising since Google AdWords launched two decades ago. Conversational AI increasingly mediates how consumers research products and make decisions. Early adoption provides competitive advantages that compound over time.

Brands that master conversational advertising, while the platform is new, gain institutional knowledge that competitors lack. They build audiences and remarketing lists that grow increasingly valuable as ChatGPT usage expands. They establish brand presence in conversational contexts where tomorrow’s customers seek solutions.

The question for marketers is no longer whether ChatGPT ads are coming. They’re here. The question is whether brands will move quickly enough to capture the early-mover advantage while the platform is still developing its advertising ecosystem.

For major brands with budget flexibility, the risk of waiting likely exceeds the risk of testing early. The brands that dominate 2027 and beyond will probably be those that mastered conversational advertising in 2026, when the opportunity was greatest, and the competition was lightest.