I know there are headlines you read and think “okay, another OpenAI milestone, there have been about fifteen of those already this year”. And at first glance, this one looks like just another entry on the list; but if you pause for a second and look at the numbers, the picture changes. Because what OpenAI has just announced is not only a revenue figure, it is confirmation that advertising inside an AI conversation has stopped being an experiment and has become a real business, growing at the pace of an established platform.
OpenAI confirmed that its advertising platform, ChatGPT Ads, reached an annualized revenue run rate (what financial jargon refers to as ARR, or annualized run rate) of $1 billion in less than 200 days from launch, a little over six months. In other words, if the current revenue trend holds, ChatGPT ads will hit $1 billion by the end of the year.
Ads began testing in the United States on February 9, exclusively for adult users on the Free and ChatGPT Go plans. In other words, advertising inside ChatGPT only got underway in the U.S. on that date. Half a year later, we are already talking about tens of thousands of active advertisers and a presence in more than 40 countries.
This week’s announcement brings another major step forward: starting today, the Ads Platform (the self-service system known as Ads Manager) is opening directly to advertisers in Europe, the Middle East, India, and North Africa.
Until now, much of the access to advertising in ChatGPT depended on a managed sales model, agencies, or partners. With Ads Manager operating as a self-service platform in these regions, any business, from a global brand to a small eCommerce company, can now, in theory, set up campaigns directly without having to go through a commercial intermediary.
OpenAI also shared that its ecosystem now includes more than 50 technology and measurement partners, and that most campaigns are now built on outcome-based bidding models (CPC and conversion optimization), with tools such as Pixel and Conversions API supporting measurement.
Just a couple of weeks ago, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar surprised a group of investors with a figure far larger than the advertising number: for the first time, the company’s enterprise revenue (API, ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Work) surpassed its consumer subscription revenue. The company entered the year with a 60-40 split in favor of consumer revenue, and that crossover came two quarters earlier than the company itself had projected. OpenAI’s total annualized revenue is already hovering around $40 billion.
All of this is happening as the company explores a potential IPO and defends an $852 billion valuation before investors who are becoming increasingly demanding about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence business. A figure such as “$1 billion in advertising” is a financial signal, designed to show that the business model does not depend on a single revenue stream.
To its credit, it should be said, OpenAI published a document back in January outlining the principles it says guide its advertising approach. I will summarize them quickly because they are relevant for anyone working in digital marketing:
These are reasonable principles, and probably necessary to keep the trust of millions of users from eroding overnight. But they are also promises from a company that needs to show investors it can monetize every corner of its product before going public.
Image: ChatGPT
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Δ