When OpenAI first introduced advertising within ChatGPT earlier this year, access was limited to a select group of major brands with equally significant media budgets. Companies including Adobe, Ford and Cisco were among the early adopters, testing what many saw as the next major challenger to Google and Meta. That prediction is now becoming reality.
Velo has early access to ChatGPT ads through our partnership with StackAdapt, and is actively running pilots.
What this new channel really represents is a shift in how B2B buyers explore a market. LLMs are becoming a trusted research companion, helping buyers make sense of markets, suppliers and solutions before they ever engage with a vendor.
Success will depend on whether your expertise can be found, understood and recommended during those AI-assisted moments of discovery. That could be further supported with paid placements just like paid search ads appearing on top of the SERPs for targeted keywords.
What has happened?
In just a few months, OpenAI has expanded ChatGPT Ads from a tightly controlled pilot programme into a self-service advertising platform. Advertiser access is now available across the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with the UK expected to follow shortly.
Not seen it yourself?
It is on the free tier- most marketers operate with a paid-for account. First thing to ask yourself is are your audiences on free or paid ChatGPT accounts? With 900+ million weekly active users, the volumes on the surface sounds massive – but this alone may be enough to temper the excitement of many niche B2B marketers.
What does it offer?
- Cost-per-click (CPC) and CPM bidding
- Conversion tracking via an advertising pixel and conversions API integration
Targeting remains relatively simple
Today, targeting is primarily based on contextual relevance and geographic targeting.
Unlike traditional search engines, the ads to be served would not rely solely on exact keyword/phrase matches. It interprets the semantic meaning, intent and context behind a user’s prompt, allowing it to understand what someone is trying to achieve rather than just the specific words they use. For advertisers, success for the campaigns depends on alignment with the topics, buyer needs and commercial challenges that sit behind a user’s prompt.
Traditional bidding: You buy precise terms like “CRM software for manufacturers”.
Context targeting: ChatGPT scans the entire chat history for user goals.
For example –
A user is looking to reduce churn and improve customer retention. Even without mentioning a ‘customer success platform’, ChatGPT can infer the need and serve a sector-relevant SaaS ad.
More sophisticated audience capabilities are expected to follow, including customer list uploads, audience suppression and retargeting options. For B2B marketers, these developments will be critical.
How much?
Initial advertiser feedback suggests strong engagement and click-through rates, helped by relatively low competition and limited advertising inventory but they were picked for a reason. OpenAI is currently recommending starting CPC bids between $3 and $5 per click in the US.
While comparable to Google Search CPCs in the same region, these costs are significantly lower than those typically seen on paid social channels like LinkedIn and Reddit.
Our recommendation
Use ChatGPT Ads as a discovery and learning opportunity rather than a scaled media channel. With audience targeting still relatively limited, the platform is likely to be most effective for highly specific niches where contextual relevance matters more than reach. Our advice is to start testing early, working with an experienced partner (like Velo😉) to understand what works, where the limitations exist and how the channel fits within your wider media mix before self-service access becomes widely available in the UK.
…Because, by that time, the businesses that have already started learning will be best placed to benefit!
Send me an email with ‘Tell me more about ChatGPT ads’ if you’re keen to start testing and let’s set up a chat – diwakar.redhu@velo-b2b.com