Vipin PG 
OpenAI says its ChatGPT advertising business has reached a $1 billion annualised revenue run rate less than 200 days after launch.
ChatGPT Ads is now available in more than 40 countries, and OpenAI is expanding its self-service advertising platform to India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
The company says tens of thousands of advertisers are already using the platform.
OpenAI started testing ads inside ChatGPT in the US in February 2026. Advertising has since become another source of income for the company alongside ChatGPT subscriptions, enterprise products and its usage-based API business.
What the $1 billion figure means
The $1 billion number is an annualised revenue run rate.
It does not mean OpenAI has already earned $1 billion from ChatGPT advertising. The figure estimates what the advertising business would generate over a full year if it continued earning at its current pace.
Reaching that level in less than 200 days gives an idea of how quickly OpenAI’s advertising business has grown since the first tests began.
OpenAI is also reportedly targeting $2.5 billion in advertising revenue for the current year.
ChatGPT Ads are expanding to India
India is becoming one of the important markets in OpenAI’s advertising rollout.
The company has started expanding ChatGPT Ads in the country and is opening its Ads Manager to Indian marketers. This gives businesses a way to create and manage campaigns through a self-service system instead of relying entirely on direct arrangements with OpenAI.
OpenAI had earlier started its ad programme in the US before expanding it to countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea.
The wider rollout now takes ChatGPT Ads to more than 40 countries.
Who sees ads in ChatGPT
Ads are shown on ChatGPT’s Free tier and Go subscription plan in supported markets.
OpenAI has said Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise users do not see these ads as part of the current advertising programme.
The company also says advertisements are clearly labelled and kept separate from ChatGPT’s answers.
Advertisers cannot access users’ private ChatGPT conversations, and OpenAI says advertising does not influence the answers generated by ChatGPT.
The system can use the context of the current conversation to decide which advertisement may be relevant. Depending on the country and the user’s settings, information from the user’s broader ChatGPT experience may also be used for ad personalisation.
OpenAI is building a larger advertising platform
The advertising programme has changed considerably since the first US tests.
OpenAI introduced Ads Manager in May, allowing more businesses to run campaigns without going through a direct sales process.
The company has also added cost-per-click pricing alongside its original cost-per-thousand-impressions model. With cost-per-click campaigns, advertisers pay when a user clicks an advertisement instead of paying only based on the number of times it is shown.
OpenAI has also expanded its advertising technology and measurement partnerships, with more than 50 partners now involved in the ecosystem.
The company says future updates will include more ad formats, campaign objectives, buying options and measurement tools.
It is also looking at ways for businesses to interact with ChatGPT users more naturally inside the service.
Why ChatGPT advertising is different
ChatGPT presents a different advertising opportunity compared with a traditional search engine or social network.
People often use ChatGPT while researching something, comparing products, looking for recommendations or trying to make a decision. Ads can therefore appear alongside conversations where a user is already interested in a related topic.
OpenAI says the advertisement remains separate from the answer itself.
That separation will be an important part of how users respond to advertising inside ChatGPT, especially as the company brings ads to more markets and makes the platform available to more businesses.
For Indian advertisers, the self-service rollout also makes ChatGPT Ads accessible beyond large brands that can work directly with OpenAI or major advertising agencies.
With the advertising business already running at a $1 billion annualised rate, ads are becoming a meaningful part of OpenAI’s business alongside subscriptions, enterprise services and API usage.
