ChatGPT Ads Top $1 Billion in Annualized Revenue After 200 Days, Challenging Google and Meta

ChatGPT’s advertising business has crossed $1 billion in annualized revenue only about 200 days after its launch, according to OpenAI. The rapid growth is putting the AI company forward as a potential new challenger to the digital advertising market dominated by Google and Meta.

OpenAI said on its official blog that the revenue figure covers advertising now running in more than 40 countries. ChatGPT ads first appeared in February in the United States for adults using the free plan and the cheapest paid plan, Go. The service officially arrived in South Korea last month.

The advertising business represents about 2.5% of OpenAI’s estimated $40 billion in total annualized revenue. OpenAI says ChatGPT can show relevant information throughout a user’s process of exploring, reviewing and making a decision. It can use the conversation’s context, as well as interests and preferences reflected in the user’s ChatGPT experience, depending on the country and user settings.

That approach differs from conventional search advertising, which largely infers preferences from search terms. OpenAI says ads appear clearly separate from ChatGPT’s answers. Advertisers cannot influence those answers or access users’ private conversations, the company says.

The growth has revived questions about whether generative AI could redirect advertising budgets from traditional search if AI models become new gateways for product discovery and purchasing decisions. Google is also testing advertising formats in the AI Mode of its search service. Anthropic, OpenAI’s main rival, has said it will not introduce ads on its Claude model. OpenAI plans to expand the ChatGPT advertising market and add new formats, buying methods and performance-measurement functions.