ChatGPT advertising will launch in early February and under a CPM model

Just a few days ago, we explained how OpenAI had confirmed that ChatGPT would incorporate advertising. This would initially occur in the United States for users over 18 years of age on the “Free” and “Go” plans, and the advertisements would appear contextually at the end of responses. For example, a query about cooking might include suggestions for food or grocery brands. In order to preserve the trust of its users, OpenAI assured that advertising in ChatGPT would be guided by five key principles: ads will be clearly distinguished, they will not influence the objectivity of the responses, and the absolute privacy of conversations will be guaranteed, ensuring that data will not be sold.

This was just a few days ago.

Now we know more about what ads in ChatGPT will be like.

A CPM model, not CPC

According to an exclusive report by The Information, advertisers will initially pay per impression, and not per click, as is usually the case with search engine advertising. In other words, they will pay when users see the advertisement, not when they click on it. In this way, ChatGPT’s pricing model would be more similar to those commonly found in environments such as third-party websites or social networks.

Of course, this model has a clear advantage for Sam Altman’s company: generating revenue regardless of whether users click on advertisements. The downside for advertisers is also obvious: they will have less control over the impact of their investment, in a model where, for example, achieving visits to the advertiser’s site takes a secondary role.

Advertising will arrive in ChatGPT in February

The other major question answered by this leak is the timing of the first ads appearing in the popular AI: it will be at the beginning of February. In fact, OpenAI is reportedly already testing advertisements with a limited selection of advertisers, who have committed to investing nearly one million dollars each during this initial pre-launch period.

However, the advertising purchase model is still not finalized, and these first ChatGPT advertisers do not yet have access to a self-service purchasing tool, which is standard on other large platforms such as Google Ads or Meta Ads Manager. Instead, they must manage their campaigns directly with the OpenAI team.

Image: Gemini and OpenAI