The short answer: ChatGPT ads have been live in the UK since June 2026, with self-serve buying from late June. They’re worth testing if you sell consumer products, travel, local services or software, and your buyers use ChatGPT’s free plans. If you’re in healthcare, legal or most financial services, OpenAI’s ad policy largely shuts you out, so being cited in the answer is your only way in.
Another week, another ad platform. This one comes with a twist. For the first time, the place where people ask questions and the place where you buy attention are the same box.
Every client conversation we’ve had since June has included some version of “should we be on ChatGPT ads?” The honest answer is “maybe, and it depends more on your sector than your budget.” Some of you can’t buy them at all. Many of your buyers will never see them. And the ones who can buy them still need the organic answer to be on their side.
The audience is already there. Ofcom found UK visits to ChatGPT reached 1.8 billion between January and August 2025, up from 368 million in the same period a year earlier (December 2025).
So this is our working view: what ChatGPT ads are, who can use them, what the early numbers say, and what to do if you’re on the wrong side of the policy.
What are ChatGPT ads?
ChatGPT ads are sponsored listings that appear below ChatGPT’s answer, clearly labelled and kept visually separate from it. OpenAI matches them to the topic of the conversation. Advertisers buy them through OpenAI’s Ads Manager, paying per thousand impressions or per click, and get aggregated performance data rather than access to anyone’s chats.
Here’s the timeline, because half the guides doing the rounds have got it wrong.
Date | What happened | Source |
9 Feb 2026 | US test goes live for logged-in adults on the Free and Go plans | OpenAI |
5 May 2026 | Self-serve Ads Manager beta in the US, cost-per-click bidding, pixel and Conversions API | OpenAI |
Early June 2026 | UK pilot goes live, initially sold through OpenAI’s team | Digiday, reporting OpenAI executives |
Late June 2026 | UK advertisers get self-serve access and cost-per-click buying | Digiday |
21 Oct 2026 | OpenAI reports more than 1.2 billion weekly users, over 100,000 advertisers and ads in 89 countries | OpenAI, as reported by PPC Land |
Search is becoming answers, and answers now have ads under them. That doesn’t change what wins the answer itself.
How ChatGPT ads work
- One sponsored unit below the response, with your name, a headline, a short description, an image and a link.
- Mainly contextual: the topic of the conversation, plus signals such as past ad interactions. In the UK and EU, personalised ads reportedly need the user’s consent.
- Cost per thousand impressions or cost per click, with conversion-optimised options. OpenAI says you never pay per conversion.
- An OpenAI pixel and Conversions API. You see views, clicks and conversions in aggregate. You never see what anyone typed.
- OpenAI’s stated principle is that ads don’t influence the answer. It repeated that in October 2026.
Who actually sees ChatGPT ads?
Only adults on ChatGPT’s Free and Go plans see ads. OpenAI shows no ads on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Education accounts, none to users it believes are under 18, and none next to conversations about health, mental health or politics.
Read that list again if you sell to businesses.
The people most likely to be researching your software, your consultancy or your services at work are exactly the people on Business and Enterprise accounts. They won’t see your ad. They will see the answer.
Audience | Sees ChatGPT ads? | What reaches them |
Consumers on the free plan | Yes | Ads and the answer |
Consumers on Go | Yes | Ads and the answer |
Plus and Pro subscribers | No | The answer only |
Staff on ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu | No | The answer only |
Anyone asking about health, mental health or politics | No ads shown | The answer only |
Under-18s | No | The answer only |
For a lot of B2B buyers, the sponsored slot doesn’t exist. The answer is the whole page.
Who’s allowed to advertise in ChatGPT?
OpenAI’s published ad policy (updated 4 June 2026) allows lifestyle and household goods, local services, travel and experiences, and digital products and education. It restricts or bans regulated healthcare, legal services, most financial products, political content, gambling, alcohol and several other categories.
This is where the guides doing the rounds get careless. Several list financial services and care providers among the “strongest early sectors”. OpenAI’s own policy says otherwise.
Sector | What OpenAI’s policy says | What it means for you |
Healthcare providers, pharma, clinics | Ads for regulated medical products and services are disallowed. General wellness without medical claims may be allowed | Largely shut out. Health conversations carry no ads at all |
Health tech and medtech software | Not clearly covered by the June policy. Reports of a newer version say health software and infrastructure is allowed outside the US | Possibly eligible. Check the current policy before you plan |
Legal services | Legal advice, representation and services are not permitted. General legal education may be | Shut out for services |
Financial services | Restricted to approved advertisers. Crypto, credit repair and debt settlement disallowed | Mostly shut out unless approved. Reports suggest non-US rules are tighter still |
Charities and fundraising | Not mentioned. Political and contested social issue content is disallowed | Unclear. Campaigning and health-adjacent charities will struggle |
B2B tech and SaaS | Digital products allowed | Eligible, but your buyers may be on ad-free plans |
Professional services (non-legal) | Not restricted | Eligible |
Travel, retail, local services | Allowed | Eligible, and the clearest fit |
Two caveats, because policy pages move. First, reports describe a newer version of the policy (dated September 2026) with a separate, stricter set of rules outside the US. We couldn’t see that version on OpenAI’s live page, so we’ve stuck to what OpenAI publishes. Second, OpenAI reviews every ad before it runs. Eligible on paper isn’t the same as approved.
What do ChatGPT ads cost, and do they work?
OpenAI hasn’t published UK prices or performance benchmarks. The early independent data suggests modest click-through rates, roughly in line with display rather than search. The minimum daily budget for UK accounts is reported to be £15, but treat any CPM figure you see quoted as unverified.
What we can say with some confidence:
- Click-through is modest. Similarweb’s panel data puts all-time ChatGPT ads click-through at 0.74% in the UK and 0.73% in the US, to September 2026. Similarweb itself says these are market benchmarks, not campaign targets.
- UK reach is high. The same Similarweb research found ads reached 45.7% of eligible UK users, the highest of the nine markets it measured.
- Prices are a moving target. You’ll see £30 and £60 CPMs quoted. Neither comes from OpenAI, and the platform added cost-per-click bidding precisely so you don’t have to guess.
Accountants at the ready: a 0.74% click-through rate means roughly seven clicks per thousand impressions. That’s a sensible test budget, not a channel you bet the year on.
Test it like a new channel, not like a miracle. A fixed budget, one clear audience, a landing page built for the question, and a date to decide.
Should you advertise in ChatGPT? A decision matrix
Should you advertise in ChatGPT? Yes, if you’re eligible, your buyers use the free plans and you can measure what happens after the click. Not yet, if you’re restricted, your buyers are on business plans, or the answer ChatGPT gives about your category doesn’t mention you. In every case, earning the citation comes first.
We use three questions with clients.
- Are you allowed? Check your category against OpenAI’s ad policy and its non-US rules. If you’re restricted, stop here and read the next section.
- Will your buyers see it? If your audience is mostly people using ChatGPT at work on paid plans, ads won’t reach them.
- Are you already in the answer? Ask ChatGPT the ten questions your buyers ask. If competitors are cited and you aren’t, an ad underneath that answer is a small sticker on someone else’s shop window.
Your situation | Our call | Why |
Eligible, consumer audience, already cited | Buy | Ads reinforce an answer that already favours you |
Eligible, consumer audience, not cited | Earn first, test small | Fix the answer, run a capped test alongside |
Eligible, B2B audience on business plans | Earn | Most of your buyers won’t see ads |
Restricted sector (health, legal, most finance) | Earn | You can’t buy your way in |
Charity or campaigning organisation | Earn, check policy | Political and social issue content is barred |
Not allowed to advertise in ChatGPT? Earn the answer instead
If you can’t buy ChatGPT ads, the answer itself is your only route in. That means being the source ChatGPT cites: clear, sourced, well-structured content about your services, consistent facts about your organisation across the web, and the trust signals that answer engines look for.
This isn’t a consolation prize. In the conversations OpenAI keeps ad-free, health, mental health and politics among them, the organic answer is the only thing on the screen. For a healthcare supplier, a law firm or a charity, that’s the whole game.
Here’s where to start.
- Find out what ChatGPT says about you now. Ask the questions your buyers ask, and note who gets cited. Our piece on why your competitors are being cited by ChatGPT and you’re not covers the method.
- Make your expertise easy to quote. Answer-first pages, named experts, clear definitions and sources for every claim. We’ve written about why AI content has made your experts more valuable, not less.
- Make your organisation easy to recognise. Consistent facts, schema markup and a clear entity profile. Our guide to entity SEO for healthcare works for any regulated sector.
- Earn trust signals. For healthcare in particular, see E-E-A-T in healthcare.
- Treat it as one system. SEO, GEO and AEO feed the same answers. Our generative engine optimisation services are built for exactly this.
You can’t buy a citation. That’s precisely why it’s worth more than the ad underneath it.
What about Google, Microsoft and Perplexity?
ChatGPT isn’t the only AI answer engine selling space, but the picture in the UK is patchy. Google plans to bring ads in AI Mode to the UK during the fourth quarter of 2026. Microsoft runs ads in Copilot. Perplexity stepped back from advertising earlier this year.
Platform | AI ads in the UK? | Source |
ChatGPT | Live since June 2026, self-serve | OpenAI; Digiday |
Google AI Mode | Planned for the UK in Q4 2026 | Google, 28 Oct 2026 |
Google AI Overviews | The UK isn’t in Google’s list of supported countries for AI Overviews ads | Google Ads Help |
Microsoft Copilot | Ads live in Copilot. UK detail not confirmed | Industry reporting |
Perplexity | Phased out ads, citing user trust | Financial Times, via Search Engine Land, Feb 2026 |
The pattern matters more than any one platform. The paid slot is being added underneath the answer, almost everywhere. The answer itself is still earned. If you want the commercial backdrop, our take on the AI price war and what it means for CMOs covers why these companies need the revenue.
How to test ChatGPT ads properly
If you’ve passed the three questions, run ChatGPT ads as a time-boxed test, not an always-on line item. Pick one audience and one offer, build a landing page that answers the question people were asking, set up OpenAI’s pixel or Conversions API, and agree in advance what result would earn more budget.
- Check eligibility. Read the current ad policy for your category and confirm it applies in the UK.
- Pick one question cluster. For example, “best project management tool for small agencies”, not “software”.
- Write ads that continue the answer. Plain, specific, useful. ChatGPT users have just read a considered answer. A shouty ad looks worse there than anywhere.
- Build the landing page for the question. Answer first, proof second, form third.
- Set up measurement before launch. Pixel or Conversions API, UTM tags, and a holdout comparison with your other channels.
- Cap the budget and the dates. Six to eight weeks is enough to learn something.
- Decide on evidence. Compare cost per qualified lead, not click-through, against your other channels.
Our performance campaigns team runs this as part of the same plan as search and AI visibility, so the paid test and the organic work don’t contradict each other.
Action plan: what to do this month
Work through the checklist and tick off each action as you complete it.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about advertising on ChatGPT.
Are there ads in ChatGPT in the UK?
Yes. ChatGPT ads went live in the UK in early June 2026, with self-serve buying through OpenAI's Ads Manager from late June. Ads appear below the answer, labelled as sponsored, and only for adults on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu users don't see them.
How much do ChatGPT ads cost?
OpenAI hasn't published UK prices. You can buy on cost per thousand impressions or cost per click, with conversion-optimised options, and you never pay per conversion. The UK minimum daily budget is reported as £15. Treat CPM figures quoted online as estimates until OpenAI publishes its own.
Can healthcare, legal or financial brands advertise on ChatGPT?
Mostly not. OpenAI's ad policy disallows regulated medical products and services and legal services, and restricts financial services to approved advertisers. Health and mental health conversations show no ads at all. These brands need to earn visibility by being cited in the answer instead.
Do ads influence ChatGPT's answers?
OpenAI says no. Its stated principle is that ads don't influence the answers ChatGPT gives, and that ads are shown separately and labelled. Advertisers get aggregated performance data and never see users' conversations.
Can I turn off ads in ChatGPT?
Yes. You can upgrade to an ad-free plan such as Plus or Pro, and OpenAI says free users can opt out of ads in exchange for fewer daily free messages. Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts don't show ads.
Get the ChatGPT ads readiness checklist
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What's inside?
0 of 7 exploredTap each topic to see what you'll get in the checklist.
01 Eligibility check by sector
02 Audience check
03 The answer audit
04 Buy, earn or both decision matrix
05 Test plan template
06 Landing page and measurement checklist
07 Governance notes
Ready to make a decision?
Get the complete checklist and work through your ChatGPT ads strategy.
Download the readiness checklist Free PDF checklistSources:
- OpenAI: Testing ads in ChatGPT – US launch date, eligible plans, excluded plans and topics, answer independence and privacy principles (Feb 2026, updated Mar and May 2026)
- OpenAI: New ways to buy ChatGPT ads – self-serve Ads Manager, cost-per-click bidding, pixel and Conversions API (May 2026)
- OpenAI: Ad policies – allowed, restricted and disallowed categories (updated 4 June 2026)
- Digiday: ChatGPT ads land in the UK – UK pilot launch and EU consent rules, quoting OpenAI executives (June 2026)
- Digiday: OpenAI expands Ads Manager to the UK – UK self-serve access and cost-per-click buying (June 2026)
- PPC Land: ChatGPT ads expand to 89 countries – OpenAI’s figures of 1.2 billion weekly users and 100,000+ advertisers (Oct 2026, secondary report of OpenAI’s announcement)
- Similarweb: ChatGPT ads CTR by country – UK click-through rate of 0.74% and UK reach among eligible users (Oct 2026, panel data)
- Everything PR: ChatGPT ads advertiser guide – reported £15 minimum daily budget, citing OpenAI’s help centre (Oct 2026, secondary)
- Google: Ads in AI Mode – UK expansion planned for Q4 2026 (Oct 2026)
- Google Ads Help: Ads in AI Overviews – supported countries for AI Overviews ads
- Search Engine Land: Perplexity stops testing advertising – Perplexity phasing out ads, citing the Financial Times (Feb 2026, secondary)
- Ofcom: From apps to AI search – UK ChatGPT visits and AI summary exposure (Dec 2025)
