last week, openai announced they’re rolling out ads in chatgpt. i think this is the biggest advertising opportunity since social media.
key product details
initial rollout targets free and chatgpt go adult users in the u.s.
paid users will stay ad-free
ads will be clearly marked and shown separately from answers
ads won’t influence responses
why i’m bullish
last year, advertisers spent ~$300 billion on online ads in the united states. search ads made up ~$100 billion of that. yet, most search queries are just a few word fragments long.
chatbot conversations are fundamentally different: they’re long and extremely context-rich. users ask follow-up questions, clarify preferences, and share budget. that context can enable targeting accuracy that blows traditional search out of the water. if google can earn $100 billion off fragmented keyword queries, i can easily see the advertising market for ai chatbots greatly surpassing that.
on a personal note, i also like that this could help openai keep offering high-quality models to free and low-cost plan users. as the company invests more into education and healthcare, i love that everyday consumers will be able to access these modalities without paying for a premium plan, or being throttled into crappy low quality models.
question for my audience
are you a paid ads expert? also interested in ai chatbot ads? please reply to this email to say hi! i’m extremely bullish on this space, and am spending hours researching to learn more. i would love to exchange notes 🙂