The news: OpenAI claimed that its US ChatGPT ads pilot now exceeds $100 million in annualized revenues only six weeks after launching—and despite advertisers’ lingering issues with the nascent format.

Advertisers in ChatGPT’s ad pilot told Adweek that OpenAI will extend the pilot past April; the company confirmed the extension and said it will begin expanding into international markets, beginning with Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. OpenAI is also requesting insertion order (IO) commitments from advertisers to formalize campaign timelines, terms, and spending.

Catching up: OpenAI’s ad initiatives remain experimental. The current pilot offers sponsored messages that appear after a ChatGPT response, but ads do not influence answers. OpenAI states that ads have not measurably impacted consumer trust metrics, maintain low dismissal rates, and are consistently improving in relevance. Self-serve capabilities are expected to launch in April.

OpenAI points to ChatGPT’s scale in its ad pitch to sway marketers despite massive upfront costs. About 85% of ChatGPT’s estimated 94.7 million US users are eligible to see ads, but less than 20% are shown ads daily, per an OpenAI spokesperson. The company is also planning to bring ads to all US ChatGPT free and Go users, according to The Information.

Comscore data underscores its scale: ChatGPT drew 72.9 million US unique visitors in January 2026, averaging 7.9 minutes per visit and 79.4 minutes per visitor.

How ads are performing: OpenAI may be expanding its ad ambitions, but advertisers are still waiting for proven results.

• Some advertisers have claimed that OpenAI’s ad process is relatively low-tech and point to a lack of data proving the ads are driving results.
• Agency executives agreed that they have not noted measurable business outcomes from ChatGPT ads.
• An exec cited by The Information claimed that ChatGPT ads aren’t yet displayed frequently enough to fully assess their impact.
• SVP of media at DEPT Sam Huston said that OpenAI’s ad-serving process lacks transparency, per Adweek.

A notable barrier to results is that chatbot ads are still maturing. Advertisers report chatbot clickthrough rates as low as 0.91%, per Adweek, far less than the 6.4% benchmark advertisers get with Google search.

Implications for marketers: ChatGPT’s reach may be the strongest reason for advertisers to invest, but AI chatbot ads are still evolving and remain far less mature than search advertising options like Google.

Still, OpenAI’s annualized revenue figures suggest advertiser interest is building even before the format and its measurement tools are fully developed. That points to long-term potential rather than proven performance.

For marketers, the opportunity is about early experimentation; brands with the budget to absorb OpenAI’s upfront cost may want to test ChatGPT ads as part of a broader media mix.