ChatGPT Ads: what changes for your brand and how to test it safely

Since yesterday, ChatGPT Ads has been live in 89 countries. According to OpenAI, over 100,000 advertisers have used it in just over 8 months. Your competitors can now appear right below ChatGPT's answer when someone asks about what you sell. The good news: in Spain you can already set up a campaign yourself, without going through OpenAI's sales team.

What is ChatGPT Ads and who sees the ads?

ChatGPT Ads is OpenAI's advertising system inside ChatGPT. Ads appear below the answer, in a separate block labelled as sponsored. Only users on the Free and Go plans see them. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu remain ad-free, according to OpenAI.

What it means: your ad shows up when someone asks about a problem, not while they browse. For example: ‘Which running shoes should I buy for road running?’. According to trade press reports, ads don't appear on sensitive topics like health or politics, or to under-18s.

Why it matters: it's the first time you can pay to sit next to a conversation with an AI (editorial recommendation). What to do: write down the 10 questions your customers ask before buying. They are your ad map.

Rule of thumb: think in questions, not keywords.

How much does it cost and how do you buy it from Spain?

According to Spanish outlets such as IPMark, ads started showing in Spain in late August 2026. Soon after, Ads Manager opened: the dashboard where a business creates and pays for its own campaigns. You can pay per 1,000 impressions (CPM), per click (CPC) or per conversion, i.e. per sale or sign-up.

What it means: at first, in the US, only large advertisers could buy, through OpenAI's sales team, according to trade press reports. Now any business can test it. IPMark mentions a €15 daily minimum, but we haven't seen OpenAI confirm it.

What to do: before spending, check the minimum budget and real prices for your sector in your own account. Why: the cost-per-click figures agencies publish are estimates, not official rates.

Rule of thumb: start by paying per click and leave conversion bidding until you measure sales properly.

Can I pay for ChatGPT to recommend my brand?

No. OpenAI says ads don't influence ChatGPT's answers and are kept separate from them. In other words, paying puts you below the answer, not inside it.

What it means: the ad sits below; the answer can't be bought. To appear inside the answer you still need GEO, which we explain in how to show up in ChatGPT. And how much people trust those answers is covered in trust in AI recommendations.

Why: people read the answer first and the ad second (editorial recommendation). If the answer recommends a competitor, your ad starts at a disadvantage.

Rule of thumb: ads to be present today, GEO to be inside the answer tomorrow.

The Garcai method: a 30-day ChatGPT Ads test

You need one afternoon to set it up and 30 days to measure. No coding needed, except for step 4.

1. Pick one goal: page visits, sign-ups or sales. With a single goal you'll know whether it worked.
2. Fix the total budget for the 30 days and write it down. If it runs out early, the test ends.
3. Write down 10 real questions your customers ask before buying. Use them to choose ad topics and copy.
4. Set up tracking. OpenAI's pixel is a snippet that reports when someone buys or signs up. UTM tags (an addition to the link) show where the visit came from.
5. Run two different ads with the same budget. To write them, use our prompts (instructions for AI) for ad copy.
6. Each week, track cost per click and cost per sign-up or sale. Compare them with your Meta Advantage+ or Google PMax campaigns.
7. On day 30, decide: continue if it costs the same or less than your best channel; stop if it costs much more.

You can do it yourself: steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7. All you need is a spreadsheet and access to Ads Manager.

Ask your tech team, or whoever runs your website. Ready-to-send message: ‘We're testing ChatGPT Ads for 30 days. I need OpenAI's pixel installed on the site and UTM tags added to the ad links. Can you have it done by Monday?’.

Common mistakes

• Thinking that paying puts you inside the answer: the ad is separate.
• Launching without the pixel or tags: you won't know what sold.
• Copying your Google keywords: on ChatGPT people type long questions.
• Treating agency price estimates as official rates.
• Leaving the campaign open with no end date or fixed budget.

ChatGPT Ads opens a new channel, but it doesn't replace the groundwork. Remember: the ad sits below; the answer can't be bought.