OpenAI has signed Helsinki-founded adtech platform Smartly as its first creative advertising partner for ChatGPT, with the aim of building ads that users can interact with conversationally rather than just view.

Beyond Static Placements

Since launching its ad pilot in February, ChatGPT has shown basic contextual placements - a Best Buy ad after a smartphone comparison, an Expedia card following a travel query. The Smartly partnership signals a more ambitious direction: ad units that mimic ChatGPT's own conversational interface, allowing users to click into a secondary dialogue where they can ask questions and receive tailored product recommendations.

Smartly CEO Laura Desmond pointed to the company's work with UK retailer Boots on Meta as a preview. In that campaign, a chatbot ad popped up to serve gift recommendations based on user responses, performing nearly five times better at driving sales than standard ads.

Fast-Growing Ad Business

The numbers behind the push are striking. OpenAI's ad pilot crossed $100 million in annualized revenue within six weeks, working with over 600 advertisers. The company charges roughly $60 per thousand impressions, justified by early data showing that LLM-referred users convert at 1.5 times the rate of other channels.

Self-serve advertising tools that remove the current $200,000 minimum commitment are expected to launch this month, opening the platform to mid-sized businesses. International pilots in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand will follow.

The Privacy Line

OpenAI maintains that user conversations will not be shared with advertisers, under-18 users won't see ads, and political and health topics are excluded from placements. How well those guardrails hold as conversational ads blur the line between response and promotion will be the real test.