ChatGPT ads went live on February 9, 2026. 

Within 24 hours, agencies were announcing pilot deals, brand names were leaking in screenshots…

…and every growth team in my network was asking the same question: Can we get in?

The honest answer right now is: only if you’re already a large advertiser with agency backing, or willing to get on a waitlist. So 

But the full picture of who’s running, what it costs, what’s banned, and when it opens up, is worth understanding now so you’re ready when access widens.

Who Can Run ChatGPT Ads?

Right now, access is invitation-only. 

OpenAI is running a closed Ad Pilot Program, and entry is gated through major holding company agencies or direct enterprise relationships with OpenAI. 

There is no self-serve ads manager. There is no open signup flow. 

The program is explicitly designed to collect feedback on formats, measurement, and the overall advertiser experience before a wider rollout.

The minimum spend to enter the pilot is reported at $250,000. That’s not a budget for the year — that’s the floor for the test. 

This positions ChatGPT ads firmly in enterprise and large-brand territory for the foreseeable short term. So, unless you’re a big player, you’ll have to big patient. 

If you’re a small or mid-size business, OpenAI has launched a waitlist to notify you when the platform opens for general access. 

Our advice? Register now as early adopters on new ad platforms consistently outperform latecomers on both CPM and relevance scores during the period before auction competition intensifies.

Who Is Among the First to Run ChatGPT Ads?

The pilot launched with a small but telling set of partners that reveals exactly what kind of advertiser OpenAI is courting in this first phase.

Confirmed Pilot Partners for ChatGPT ads as of February 2026:

• Adobe — The headline launch partner. Running ads for Acrobat Studio and Adobe Firefly, managed through agency partner WPP. Adobe already has a deep integration with OpenAI through Photoshop, Express, and Acrobat Apps for ChatGPT.
• Omnicom Media Group clients (30+) — Omnicom secured pilot placements for more than 30 brands across apparel, automotive, beauty, CPG, hospitality, retail, QSR, technology, and telecommunications. Specific brand names have not been officially confirmed.
• WPP client roster — WPP is serving as Adobe’s agency partner and has broader pilot involvement. WPP clients include some of the world’s largest advertisers across consumer goods, automotive, finance, and technology.
• Interpublic (IPG) clients — IPG has been reported among the holding companies with early pilot access, meaning clients like Apple, PepsiCo, and American Express are potential.

“The introduction of ads in ChatGPT creates a new way for brands to introduce products appearing at a moment when engagement and relevance are inherently high.”

— Justin Wroe, Chief Commercial Officer, Omnicom Media (quote source)

The industry vertical spread from Omnicom alone — apparel, automotive, beauty, CPG, hospitality, QSR, tech, telco — tells you OpenAI is deliberately testing across categories, not just tech-adjacent brands. This is a broad-market play, not a niche B2B channel.
What Do ChatGPT Ads Cost?

Pricing data for the pilot has leaked through industry reporting, and the numbers are striking. 

The reported CPM (cost per thousand impressions) for the ChatGPT ads pilot is $60. For context, that’s roughly three times what you’d pay on Meta.

The premium pricing reflects a genuine difference in intent quality. 

A $60 CPM impression on ChatGPT is shown to someone actively discussing a topic related to your product. They’re mid-thought, not mid-scroll. 

The signal you’re buying is conversational intent, not a demographic approximation. Whether that delta justifies 3x the cost of Meta is the test every pilot brand is currently running.

One important caveat: you’re getting aggregate performance data only. Views, clicks…nothing at the individual user level. Attribution will require downstream measurement.

If your tracking infrastructure can’t connect the dots from a ChatGPT placement to a conversion, your reporting will have holes.

What Types of Ads Aren’t Allowed?

OpenAI has drawn clear category lines both on advertiser verticals that are excluded from the pilot entirely, and on the types of content and audience contexts where ads simply won’t serve. This is important: these aren’t just content policy rules, they’re structural constraints baked into the ad matching system.

❌Health & Mental Health Advertisers: Excluded from the pilot entirely as a vertical. Ads also will not serve near any health or mental health topics in conversation — regardless of the advertiser.

❌Political Advertising: Political advertisers and political topics are fully excluded. No political ads will serve on the platform during the pilot — or apparently beyond it.

❌Financial Services: Listed as a “sensitive or regulated vertical” that is excluded from advertising in ChatGPT during the current phase. This covers banking, lending, investment products, and similar.

❌ Dating & Adult Services: Excluded as a sensitive vertical. No dating app advertising or adult content of any kind is permitted on the platform.

❌Users Under 18: Ads will not serve to accounts where OpenAI has identified or predicted the user is under 18 — using both self-declaration and AI-based age estimation from usage behavior.

❌ Misleading, Harmful, or Scam Ads: OpenAI has stated that guardrails are in place to prevent narrow targeting that could facilitate scams, predatory offers, or otherwise harmful or misleading advertising.

When Can Any Business Run Ads in ChatGPT?

OpenAI has not announced a date. What they have said many times is that the current phase is about learning, not scale. 

The company wants to observe how users respond to placements, how formats perform, and how to refine the relevance matching before opening the floodgates.

Reading between the lines of OpenAI’s communications and the typical lifecycle of ad platform launches, here’s a reasonable projection:

• Now — Q1 2026

Closed pilot. Invitation-only via Omnicom, WPP, and direct enterprise partners. Min spend ~$250K. Formats: product cards and sponsored content below responses.

• Q2–Q3 2026 (Projected)

Expanded pilot. Likely opening to more agency partners and potentially a managed-service tier for mid-market brands. Pricing may shift as competition for inventory begins.

• Late 2026 (Projected)

Self-serve launch. OpenAI is building ad platform infrastructure. A public-facing Ads Manager — similar in concept to Meta Ads Manager or Google Ads — is the expected end state. This would open the channel to any business with a budget.

• Late 2026–2027 (Roadmap)

International expansion and interactive formats. OpenAI has hinted at conversational ad units where users can ask questions directly to an advertiser. Global rollout will follow domestic stabilization.

The action right now for any business: register at openai.com/advertisers.

It’s a simple interest form, not a spend commitment. Being early on that list likely influences prioritization when OpenAI begins selecting the next wave of beta advertisers.

ChatGPT ads advice for Growth Marketers

If you have $250K+ and agency backing, you can get in now. For everyone else, the waitlist is the move.

$60 CPM is expensive versus Meta or Google — but the intent quality is genuinely different. Model the efficiency on your specific conversion path before writing it off.

Health, finance, politics, and dating are off the table in the current phase. Don’t build plans around those verticals opening anytime soon.

Measurement infrastructure is critical. You’ll only get aggregate data from OpenAI — your downstream attribution setup needs to be ready before you spend a dollar.

Self-serve is coming. The timeline is 2026. Treat this year as your preparation window — develop creative, build landing experiences, and study what the pilot brands publish about early results.