ChatGPT Ads

The latest update in AI & Advertising

ChatGPT only announced advertising in January 2026. Our research found they'd already changed their algorithm 46 days earlier — with 55.8% of brands losing visibility before a single public word was said. The AI advertising space is going to continue to shift in 2026, and this is new territory for every brand. There is no playbook and that is the opportunity: Seer leverages live data, learnings from clients running campaigns, and a team that has been in AI search since January 2023 as cited by Forbes, Fast Company, eMarketer, and Search Engine Land.

How does advertising in ChatGPT work?

Where do ads appear?

Ads appear after the answer (not above a list of links). Users read a full AI response first, then see your ad. There's no headline ranking and no position 1. It's a different experience entirely.

Which ChatGPT users see your ad?

Most users can see your ads, but you need to know your audience. Ads only show to free and "Go" tier users (~81% of ChatGPT's active base). Paid subscribers see nothing. That 81% matters less if your buyers are B2B SaaS or tech professionals. That audience skews paid, which shrinks your real reach.

How does ChatGPT convert?

AI traffic is tiny, but it converts nearly 9x better than Google Organic. ChatGPT-referred traffic made up just 0.07% of total organic sessions in one client study, but converted at 15.9% compared to 1.76% from Google Organic.

What is the advantage of being first to ChatGPT?

There's a lot that marketers don't know about new Ads from OpenAI. What we do know is that more buyers are getting their answers in LLMs and making buying decisions, without ever reaching your website. There's no retargeting, no funnel tracking, no custom content to influence them. ChatGPT Ads offers performance marketers a way to re-enter the conversation, and those users are further along in the buying cycle. ChatGPT's +71% growth in evaluation-stage queries means your ad is more likely to reach someone actively comparing options than casually browsing.

AI is becoming more than a place where research starts, but a place where purchases happen. Copilot-assisted journeys drove 53% more purchases within 30 minutes. Google and Shopify now enable checkout without ever leaving an AI interface.

Seer's Approach to LLMs & Advertising

AI Visibility Audit

We audit what ChatGPT already says about your brand before you spend.

We understand and audit your AI visibility before recommending any paid spend: checking sentiment, competitive presence, and whether your paid message matches your organic footprint so you're not wasting spend on a negative brand impression.

User Behavior Research

We put real users in front of ChatGPT ads and watch what happens.

Our AI Search User Testing puts real customers in front of AI tools to learn how they really search, prompt, and click (or don't). As ChatGPT ads become more common, human behavior patterns directly shape strategy in real time.

Live Campaign Data

We're running & testing ChatGPT ads right now. That data is yours.

AI attribution isn't like search — but you're still a performance marketer and this investment has to prove itself. We're tracking conversions, funnel interaction, and optimization signals across every campaign we run. You get the learnings from all of them, not just your own.

In one B2B client audit, we found zero content on ROI, pricing transparency, or competitive comparisons. Competitors owned all three in AI responses. Running ads on top of that would have had a negative brand impact, and wasted spend.

How does ChatGPT Ads fit with my Generative Engine Optimization strategy?

ChatGPT ads sit within the AI-generated response. If that brand is incomplete, off message, boosting your competition or in direct conflict with your ad, that creates a new challenge for paid media professionals. Combining your ChatGPT Ads strategy with your AI visibility and organic presence reduces wasted spend and risk when launching on this new platform.

Integrated strategies are where our brands leapfrog the competition: Seer saved a credit card client $800K by connecting paid and organic data, and identifying where the team was wasting money placing English ads on Spanish results.

Paid Media + AI Visibility with ChatGPT Ads