AUGUST 26, 2026 — A recent article from AdWeek discussing ChatGPT ads included insight from Seer Interactive's Associate Director of Paid Media, Brittany Sager. The article also cited a Seer study on ChatGPT ads, which analyzed early performance of the ads being served alongside responses.
What We Found
Our analysis of 55,000 ChatGPT responses and ads found that only 38% of ChatGPT ads were on topic (in the same product/service class), while 58% were category-adjacent (the ad topic was related to the umbrella category or general topic of the prompt) and 4% had no meaningful connection.
The Bigger Picture
SE Ranking ran a similar study and found that 1 in 7 ChatGPT ads (14.35%) had no topical connection to the prompt. They also found that some industries had higher accuracy rates than others, with travel and healthcare having high match rates while relationship and news & politics had mismatch rates above 50%.
Our Take: What This Means for Marketers
As Brittany pointed out, brands want to be sure they're putting dollars behind ad strategies that work, especially if they have high CPMs (Cost Per Mille, or how much they're paying per a thousand impressions/views).
Right now, we'd recommend focusing your efforts on your top branded prompts and making sure competitors aren't appearing unchallenged when your brand is mentioned. Work on getting your context targeting right so you show up on prompts that fit.
Also from our ChatGPT ads study: "The risk is not the spend, it is spending it without structure and coming out with no real learning. Define what you are testing before you launch, like a display approach or a context aligned approach. Know what and why."
Now is also a good time to pay attention to what the AI platforms are saying about your brand. We talk more about that in our blog about how to build a brand canon.
Resources
Check out our ChatGPT ads study: Our Early View of ChatGPT Ads: 5 Initial Observations - Updated July 28, 2026
Read the AdWeek article: OpenAI Is Testing Exclusion Targeting for ChatGPT Ads
