OpenAI has expanded ChatGPT Ads to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), opening its self-service advertising platform to marketers across the region as its advertising business reaches a $1 billion annualised revenue run rate.
The MENA rollout began on August 31 and coincides with the addition of markets across India and Europe. Advertisers in eligible markets can purchase campaigns through Ads Manager, while ChatGPT Ads is already accessible in more than 40 countries through OpenAI’s Ads Solutions team, agency partners and technology partners.
The expansion introduces a new advertising environment for regional marketers, where consumers increasingly use conversational AI to research topics, evaluate options and inform purchasing decisions rather than relying solely on traditional search and discovery platforms.
According to OpenAI, ChatGPT Ads are positioned alongside relevant conversations, with the platform using the context of a user’s ongoing interaction to identify potentially relevant advertising. Ads are clearly marked and kept separate from ChatGPT’s responses.
ChatGPT Ads also incorporates several capabilities associated with performance marketing, including cost-per-click (CPC) and outcome-optimised bidding, geographic and platform targeting, custom audiences, product feeds, Pixel and Conversions API functionality.
OpenAI said CPC and outcome-optimised bidding now represent the majority of campaigns running on the platform. The company has also reported that tens of thousands of advertisers are using ChatGPT Ads, with small and medium-sized businesses representing a significant portion of its advertising activity.
The company has shared several early performance examples, including one ecommerce advertiser that generated a 3x return on ad spend over 28 days and a technology partner that reported more than 80% of ad-driven ChatGPT traffic coming from new customers. These figures are based on examples provided by OpenAI and are not independent industry benchmarks.
The MENA expansion comes as OpenAI rapidly builds its advertising business, which the company says reached a $1 billion annualised revenue run rate in under 200 days.
For marketers across the region, the development could signal a shift in where brands compete for consumer attention. As conversational AI becomes part of how people discover products, services and recommendations, advertising within AI-led interactions could give brands an opportunity to influence consideration earlier in the customer journey.
OpenAI maintains that advertising does not affect ChatGPT’s answers and that advertisers cannot access users’ private conversations. ChatGPT Ads are currently available to Free and Go users, while Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu users continue to have an ad-free experience.
