OpenAI’s ad platform can’t tell advertisers if their money is working

OpenAI is pushing ahead with advertising on ChatGPT, but early adopters say the platform is far from ready for serious performance marketing.

The big picture. According to a report by The Information, ChatGPT’s ad offering shares almost no data with advertisers, lacks automated buying tools, and offers very limited targeting — leaving brands with little ability to measure whether their spend is actually doing anything.

What advertisers are dealing with. Digital marketer Glenn Gabe helped list out what the current issues are:

• No automated way to buy ad space — deals are being made over phone calls, emails, and spreadsheets
• No meaningful performance data to evaluate campaign outcomes
• Two agency executives told The Information they haven’t been able to prove the ads drove any measurable business results for clients

Why we care. If you’re considering ChatGPT as an advertising channel, the lack of performance data means you’re essentially spending blind — with no reliable way to prove ROI to clients or stakeholders. As OpenAI prepares to scale ads to all U.S. free users, the audience is about to get significantly larger, but the measurement tools haven’t caught up.

Advertisers who jump in now should do so with very managed expectations and treat it as an experimental budget, not a performance channel.

What’s coming anyway. OpenAI has told advertisers it plans to show ads to all U.S. users on free and low-cost versions of ChatGPT in the coming weeks — a significant expansion from the current pilot. Advertisers have also been advised they can improve performance by supplying more variations of text and visual creative.

The irony. OpenAI builds some of the world’s most sophisticated AI — yet its ad reporting tools remain firmly in the spreadsheet era.

The bottom line. ChatGPT ads are about to reach a much larger audience, but the infrastructure to prove their value isn’t there yet. Advertisers entering now are largely flying blind — and paying for the privilege.

Credit. Gabe shared highlights from The Information’s article on X.

Dig deeper. OpenAI’s First Advertisers Can’t Prove ChatGPT Ads Work (subscription needed)

View the full article