OpenAI Introduces Ads to ChatGPT in Canada, Australia & New Zealand

Ads have now made their debut in AI. Like us, if you run ads for Kiwi businesses, the chances are your clients might start to ask you about it.

ChatGPT, one of the most used AI platforms globally, is the first to roll out ads. With piloting beginning in February, ads can now be served by marketers as of April 2026. Advertisers in three select countries can now expand their reach to AI users; Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Ads won’t be served to all ChatGPT users; only adult users using the free or Go ($8/month) plans. Anyone using the higher tiered plans such as ChatGPT Business, Pro, Plus, Education and Enterprise will not be served ads. There are also limitations with chat topics; ads will not show when chatting about health, including mental health, and political topics.

Users will be served ads in real time depending on their chat searches. If you’re looking for hiking gear in New Zealand, a Macpac ad, a brand advertising their outdoor recreational equipment may show.

What Ads Look Like

Here is a real example of what ChatGPT users can see in NZ:

Ad format is very different to what us marketers are used to with Google, Bing & Meta. Instead of the usual “headlines” and “descriptions”, only context hints can be specified.

Targeting in ChatGPT Ads

You can choose to type in a set of keywords, or a short description of the type of queries that will be most relevant for your ad to be shown. As for bidding strategies, CPM bidding is currently available, but CPC is currently in the testing stages.

The ads use country-wide geo-targeting and for most clients who only operate locally, mainly service oriented businesses, this may not be the best approach for them. But for country-wide businesses, you’d be paying to reach the entire NZ user base which is exactly the setting that would have been selected for Google ads or Meta.

And that’s it. Personalisation is limited at this stage, but it appears very straightforward to set up. ChatGPT recognises the importance of maintaining users’ trust and will not share users’ search history, however, advertisers do get access to impression and click data, which is very helpful when analysing ad performance.

What’s the Catch?

The biggest barrier for most advertisers looking to run ads on ChatGPT is the minimum spend required. At this stage, there’s a $50,000 commitment which does put this tool out of reach for many smaller and medium-sized businesses. There is talk that this may lower, as businesses originally involved in pilot testing were expected to pay $200,000 to $250,000.

The other big catch is that tracking is still in its infancy. We don’t have visibility on conversions that were influenced by the ads - for example, when someone sees or clicks an ad, we don’t know if that ad converted into a sale.

We’ll have to stay tuned to see if ads on AI platforms become more accessible to all businesses, especially those currently running ads on Google, Bing & Meta.

OpenAI has disclosed that 600+ advertisers are already using ChatGPT ads and with up to 900 million users worldwide, the possibilities are endless. There’s no doubt other AI platforms will start to follow in ChatGPTs footsteps.