ChatGPT Ads Are Coming With Premium Pricing

Kyle Headland | 30 January, 2026 | 2 minute read | AI, Blog

Early reports suggest ChatGPT ads are being priced at around $60 CPM, significantly higher than most social platforms. In return, advertisers get very limited reporting: basic impressions and clicks, but no visibility into conversions, revenue, or downstream impact.

This positions ChatGPT ads less as a performance channel and more as a high-attention brand environment. You’re paying for presence inside AI-driven conversations — not for finely tuned attribution or optimisation.

For marketers who like to test early, this is a chance to learn how brands show up inside AI interfaces before the format matures. But it comes with a clear compromise: measurement is thin, and targeting is constrained by privacy-first principles.

OpenAI has been explicit about protecting user privacy and avoiding the kind of data-sharing that powers Meta advertising and Google Ads ecosystems. That stance builds trust — but limits what advertisers can track or optimise against.

Ads will initially appear only to users on free and lower-tier plans, excluding minors and sensitive topics like politics or mental health.

The big bet? That context, attention, and brand safety can justify premium pricing — even without performance-level insight.

For now, ChatGPT ads look best suited to brand-led advertisers with test budgets, not those chasing efficient, measurable demand through performance marketing.