The inevitable has happened with OpenAI launching advertising in ChatGPT in Australia following an announcement made earlier this year and “encouraging early signals” from its US pilot.
The rollout, expected in the coming weeks, will be limited to logged-in adult users on the free and ‘Go’ tiers. No ads will appear for Plus, Pro, Business, or Enterprise accounts.
OpenAI has stressed that ChatGPT’s answers will remain “independent and unbiased,” conversations will stay private, and users will retain “meaningful control” over their experience.
“As we expand our pilot, our core ad principles remain the same: ChatGPT’s answers remain independent and unbiased, conversations stay private, and people keep meaningful control over their experience,” in a statement to trade press this morning, the company said.
OpenAI said the Australian launch will allow the company to test and refine the experience in a key market, where usage has more than doubled over the past year and a local team is now in place.
Users who prefer an ad-free experience can continue to upgrade to Plus or Pro, while the company works closely with brands to manage participation in the pilot.
Shai Luft, Co-founder and COO of Bench Media, told B&T it was only a matter of time before ads came to ChatGPT and the rollout into Australia was the next logical step.
“When you build one of the fastest-growing consumer platforms, monetisation inevitably follows,” Luft said.
“For local marketers, this creates a genuine opportunity to diversify spend beyond Google and tap into new discovery behaviours that go beyond keyword search. The timing is also telling. Competition is heating up, particularly from Gemini, which is tightly integrated into Google’s ecosystem, making this as much a strategic move as a commercial one.”
“The key question now is how ads show up and how they perform in an Australian context. Either way, it’s a space marketers here should be testing early.”
Philip Pollock from independent marketing agency JOY told B&T he wasn’t surprised that advertising arrived Down Under.
“With OpenAI hiring people locally and rolling out ads in the US, it was on our radar,” Pollock said.
“Clients have been asking for information so they can make choices. It doesn’t mean they’ll invest straight away, but leadership teams want to stay across all developments in AI, whether through organic content or sponsored ads.”
He said those who don’t want to see the ads will pay for Plus or Pro and “understand the benefits”.
“I don’t think it will turn off users of the free version. There might be encouragement to look at added benefits, but people will see it as a fair value exchange. Realistically, people understand they’re getting a very good service for free, and having some ads doesn’t necessarily put them off.”
Is there room in media plans?
Pollock said he believed there is “definitely space” for ChatGPT ads within Australian media strategies, particularly for performance-focused clients.
Early adopters are expected to be those looking to diversify beyond traditional channels like search, Meta, TikTok, and affiliate marketing.
“The first cohort of clients will likely be performance-driven, looking for measurable outcomes. They are constantly looking to diversify beyond search, Meta, TikTok, and affiliate marketing. They’re open to test-and-learn strategies as long as it’s measurable and generating revenue or sales. Later on, more branding or partnership clients might come in, but initially there will be a wait-and-see approach from risk-averse clients,” said Pollock.
Performance marketers, in particular, are expected to dive in immediately, while more cautious clients may take a few weeks to assess results:
“Performance marketers will test it right away. Risk-averse clients might wait a month or two to see the reaction. Performance marketers are looking to generate sales, so they’ll calculate the risk and decide if it’s worth it,” added Pollock.
‘How much can a brand protect itself from risk?’
Pollock said brand safety “remains a top consideration” for media planers.
“What will be interesting is what controls advertisers have to control where they appear. How much can a brand protect itself from risk? Will exclusions be allowed? Are we opening ourselves to another brand safety crisis where people monitor searches and flag brands?”
He also cautioned that sponsorship without organic placement could backfire.
“If your brand doesn’t appear organically but you’re sponsoring content, that might not look good. The real risk is when the organic outcome doesn’t include your brand but your ad is shown,” Pollock said.
“OpenAI seems to be keeping things limited and controlled—for example, showing ads for flights or groceries without naming specific brands. It will be interesting to see how they decide when and where to show an ad.”
The caution on measurability
Gary Nissim, CEO of Alley AU (Nunn Media’s wholly-owned performance media division), weighed in on the practical considerations for advertisers testing ChatGPT ads.
“The hype around LLMs from a marketing perspective is real. However, the results [are] questionable, and measurement difficult. If you follow our American friends, who are already trialling ChatGPT ads, they reference the Ads product as very similar.”
Nissim pointed to early data from clients’ Google Analytics accounts, showing non-paid traffic from LLMs like ChatGPT accounts for less than 1% of all traffic:
“I would assume that’s why ChatGPT’s ad product is primarily purchased on views (CPM) rather than clicks (CPC). That bucks the trend we see from other search products provided by Google, Bing, TikTok, and Reddit. Which, to my mind, makes it a less attractive and effective acquisition product,” he said.
Nissim added that, like the organic version of ChatGPT, the paid product is likely to function more as a brand awareness tool than a direct acquisition strategy:
“Whatever the case, it’ll be instrumental in many marketing plans and I look forward to Gemini and other models following suit.”
