OpenAI Ads Agency for Campaigns Inside ChatGPT
An OpenAI ads agency plans, launches and runs your paid campaigns inside OpenAI Ads Manager.
That’s where sponsored cards get placed under ChatGPT answers.
We run that account for you, and we work the citation above the card too.
Campaigns built inside your own ad account
Context hints mapped to real buying prompts
Paid card and earned citation, one team
4.9/5
Trusted by agencies
and brands worldwide.
Opening CPC
$3 to $5
Channel Snapshot
Ad format
Sponsored card
Bidding
CPC, CPM, oCPC
Audience
Not Plus, Pro, Business
Daily minimum
25 USD in the US
Auction type
Second price
The three campaign objectives
Plus, Pro and Business plans
Self-serve live, Europe coming
Minimum daily budget in the US
Service Overview
What an OpenAI Ads Agency
Actually Does
An OpenAI ads agency does three jobs, and the first one surprises most marketing teams.
Access comes first. ChatGPT Ads has no agency manager account, so you create and verify the advertiser account, then invite us in.
Structure comes next. Campaigns, ad groups and bids get built around the prompts your buyers type, not around a keyword list.
Then measurement. The OpenAI Pixel and the Conversions API must fire before spend starts, or your first two weeks teach you nothing.
Most of the value sits in that third piece, because a conversational surface hides its own performance until you instrument it.
Account Access Done Right
You own the advertiser account and the data.
We work inside it as an Ad Account Member or Viewer, a role you can revoke.
Context Hints, Not Keywords
Context hints pair your product with live conversation intent, so the brief looks nothing like a Google Ads keyword plan.
Two Surfaces, One Team
The two surfaces are the card below the answer and the citation inside it.
Those are separate wins from one prompt map.
How It Works
How We Run Your ChatGPT Account
Every ChatGPT account we run follows the same six steps, and each one has a fixed output you sign off on.
Prompt and Intent Mapping
Prompt mapping lists what your buyers type before they choose a vendor.
That list drives context hints, creative and landing pages.
Account Access and Verification
You create the advertiser account and complete business verification in your own name.
You then invite our team under Settings, Users, Invite, with the role you choose.
Campaign and Bid Structure
Campaign structure splits by objective before anything goes live.
CPM, CPC and oCPC each need their own campaign, because the objective locks at creation.
Creative and Context Hints
Creative means the advertiser name, favicon, title, description, image and landing URL.
Context hints describe the conversations the card should sit under, in plain language.
Tracking Before Spend
The OpenAI Pixel goes on before the first impression, never after it.
We wire the Conversions API and preserve the oppref click reference through redirects.
Reporting and Optimization
Reporting shows spend, delivery and conversions against the prompt clusters that produced them.
Bids, hints and creative get revised on that evidence, not on a dashboard screenshot.
Platform Reality
How Ads Work Inside ChatGPT Today
A ChatGPT ad is one sponsored card that renders below the assistant’s answer, labelled and visually separated from it.
Sponsored label
Every card carries it. The card never blends into the answer above.
Advertiser name and favicon
Your brand name and small logo identify who paid for the placement.
Title
Keep it short. Long headlines get truncated inside the card.
Description
A short line of body copy that sits under the title.
Image
An image asset that matches the title and copy.
Landing URL
The destination, tagged so clicks reconcile inside your own analytics.
What happens between a prompt and a paid impression
Buyer prompt
Someone asks ChatGPT a buying question
Context hints match
Your plain text hints pair with live intent
Second price auction
Relevance is weighted against your bid
Sponsored card renders
Below the answer, labelled Sponsored
The OpenAI Pixel and the Conversions API record what happens after the click.
Who Sees Your Sponsored Card
Your sponsored card reaches ChatGPT users outside the paid tiers.
OpenAI shows no ads to Plus, Pro or any Business plan, or to accounts identified as under 18.
That’s a real ceiling on paid reach, and it’s why the earned citation still matters.
How Context Hints Replace Keywords
Context hints are plain text descriptions of the conversations you want to sit beside.
There’s no keyword list and no match type, though geo targeting and audience matching still apply.
Where the Auction Sets Your Cost
Placement clears through a relevance weighted second price auction, so a sharper hint can beat a bigger bid.
OpenAI suggests opening CPC bids of $3 to $5.
The Full Answer
Paid Card and Earned Citation Work Together
The sponsored card buys the slot under the answer.
It doesn’t put your brand inside the answer, and those are two different jobs.
| Sponsored card | Earned citation | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | Below the answer, labelled sponsored | Inside the answer, as a named source |
| What it costs | CPC, CPM or oCPC, billed per campaign | Content and authority work, no media spend |
| Who sees it | Everyone except Plus, Pro and Business plans | Every plan, Plus and Enterprise included |
| How fast | Impressions within days of approval | Weeks to months, depending on the topic |
| When you stop | Delivery ends the same day | Coverage holds until the model reweights |
| What it needs | Budget, creative and context hints | Cited sources and topical authority |
Paid coverage is the fastest way in.
Earned coverage is what still shows up on a Pro account with ads switched off.
We run both, which is why getting cited in AI answers sits beside this service rather than under a different vendor.
The earned half runs on editorial brand mentions and media outreach.
What It Delivers
What the Channel Delivers
This channel delivers four things you can point at, and each one shows up in a different report.
Demand at the Decision Moment
Demand shows up mid conversation, while someone is still deciding what to buy.
A sponsored card reaches that person before they’ve opened a comparison tab. The intent is already written out in the prompt.
Brand Term Defence
Brand defence matters because a rival can bid on the conversations where your name comes up.
Context hints don’t work like exact match, so you can’t fence off your brand the way you would in Google Ads. Presence is the defence.
Pipeline You Can Measure
Pipeline gets measured through the pixel and the Conversions API, not a platform dashboard alone.
The oppref click reference carries into your analytics, so revenue lands against the campaign that produced it.
Compounding AI Visibility
Visibility compounds when the paid card and the earned citation reinforce each other.
Prompt research for context hints is the same research that tells you which questions to earn citations on.
One programme feeds the other, and the media coverage we earn keeps working on plans where ads never render.
Engagement Shape
Your First 90 Days
Your first 90 days split into three phases with fixed outputs. The clock on the last two starts when OpenAI approves your account, not when you sign.
Account Approval
Account approval is OpenAI’s call, not ours, and it runs in a rolling queue.
Advertiser account created in your name
Business verification submitted through Persona
Category checked against ad policy first
Prompt and intent map built meanwhile
Creative and landing pages prepared
No agency can expedite this queue, so we build everything else while it runs.
Launch and Instrument
Launch starts the day your account clears, with tracking already live.
OpenAI Pixel and Conversions API verified
Landing pages confirmed open to OAI-AdsBot
CPM and CPC campaigns live by objective
Ads submitted for review, resubmitted if rejected
Weekly delivery notes from first serve
Ads go through review too, and a rejection means an edit and a resubmit.
Read, Then Scale
Read on conversion volume rather than clicks, which is why this phase runs 60 days.
Hint clusters judged on conversions, not clicks
Losing hints cut, winning clusters widened
A separate oCPC campaign built, not switched
Conversion event fixed up front, since it locks
Earned citation targets set for the same prompts
At the budget modelled above, a month yields too few conversions per cluster to act on.
Unit Economics
What the Numbers Have to Do
The numbers have to clear a bar you set before launch, which is a different question from what the platform charges.
Monthly media budget
$5,000
At a $4 CPC, inside the $3 to $5 range OpenAI suggests
1,250 clicks
At a 3% landing page conversion rate
37 leads
At a 20% lead to opportunity rate
7 opportunities
Your close rate and deal size decide the rest
Your call
Only the bid range in that ladder comes from OpenAI. Every other rate is yours to supply from your own data.
It’s arithmetic, not a forecast.
We run it with your real numbers once you reach out, before you commit any budget.
Two inputs decide whether this channel works for you. What a qualified opportunity is worth, and whether your tracking can see one when it arrives.
Category Fit
Where ChatGPT Ads Fit
ChatGPT Ads runs a permitted category list rather than a banned one, so fit matters more here than on other platforms.
Permitted at Launch
Permitted categories are consumer verticals, and the list is narrower than most advertisers expect.
OpenAI names household and lifestyle goods, local services, travel and experiences, and digital products or education.
Financial services, healthcare and medicine get case-by-case approval, in the United States only.
Disallowed at Launch
Disallowed means everything that isn’t on the permitted list, which is the part people miss.
That covers adult content, alcohol and tobacco, gambling, recreational drugs, counterfeit goods, legal services and political content.
A rejected account costs you a month, so we check your category during scoping.
| If this is your situation | Then this is the move |
|---|---|
| You sell household goods, travel or local services | You’re in the permitted set. Start here. |
| You sell digital products or education | Permitted at launch. Check the creative against ad policy. |
| You’re a US financial or healthcare advertiser | Case-by-case review. Expect to show proof of licensure. |
| You sell legal services | Not permitted. Legal education and media may still qualify. |
| Your buyers sit on Plus, Pro or a Business plan | They never see ads. Work the citation instead. |
| Your category isn’t on the permitted list | Assume disallowed at launch, and plan earned coverage. |
Not sure which row you’re in? That’s the first thing we work out. It’s also the fastest way to learn whether earning citations organically is the better spend.
Investment & Deliverables
Investment, Timeline, and Deliverables
Your investment splits into three parts. Media budget you pay OpenAI, setup work, and a monthly fee.
Paid to OpenAI
Media budget
25 USD a Day
Media budget starts at the minimum daily budget, which is 25 USD in the United States.
It varies by billing currency, and daily spend won’t exceed twice what you set.
Opening CPC bids of $3 to $5, per OpenAI’s own guidance
One time
Setup work
Runs in Parallel
Setup work covers access, verification, tracking and the first creative set.
Nothing queues behind anything else, so first impressions follow account approval.
Your landing pages must allow OAI-AdsBot, or ads won’t serve
Ongoing
Monthly fee
Scoped On a Call
Monthly fees move with market count, tracking maturity and the creative you own.
So we don’t publish a rate card. You get the number before you commit.
Our published plans and pricing show how we scope the earned side
What Every Engagement Includes
Every engagement includes the same seven things, whatever the budget.
Prompt and intent map for your category
Card creative written for the format
Weekly delivery notes, monthly written analysis
Account, pixel and data in your name
Campaign, ad group and bid structure
OpenAI Pixel and Conversions API setup
Category eligibility check before we build
What You Get
Reporting That Ties Spend to Pipeline
Reporting arrives weekly for delivery and monthly as written analysis, so nobody has to interpret a dashboard alone.
Spend and Delivery
Spend, impressions, clicks, CTR and average CPC, broken out at campaign, ad group and ad level.
Prompt Coverage Map
Prompt clusters your card appeared under, mapped against the hints that delivered them and what each one cost.
Conversion Path
The path runs from prompt to card to click to your CRM record, reconciled through the Conversions API.
Citation Overlap
Citation overlap shows where you already rank organically inside the same answers you’re paying to sit beneath.
That gap is what earning AI citations closes.
In-House or With Us
Running It In-House or With Us
In-house teams can run this channel, and some should. The difference is who carries the tracking work and how fast you get a readable signal.
| Factor | In-House / DIY |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Account setup | Teams stall on business verification and role permissions |
We walk your team through verification, then work under a revocable role |
| Targeting brief | Keyword habits carry over and context hints stay too broad |
Hints written from mapped buying prompts, then tightened on delivery data |
| Creative | Display copy gets reused and truncates inside the card |
Card copy written for the format, with the image built to spec |
| Tracking | Pixel work slips until after launch, so early spend teaches nothing |
Pixel, Conversions API and the oppref click reference live before first serve |
| Category eligibility | Restricted categories surface at rejection, after weeks of work |
Policy check happens during scoping, before anyone builds a campaign |
| Reporting | Dashboard screenshots with no revenue reconciliation |
Written monthly analysis tying spend to pipeline in your own CRM |
| Organic overlap | Paid and organic run as separate projects with separate research |
One prompt map drives the sponsored card and the earned citation |
ChatGPT Ads opened to everyone in 2026, so no agency has a long record on it, including us.
What we can show you is our earned media record and the ratings clients left for it.
Our published campaign results and verified client reviews both come from the organic side.
That’s the half of the ChatGPT answer we’ve worked on for years.
It runs on editorial guest post placements and media outreach, and the way we run campaigns is the same here.
Rating on Clutch
Rating on Google
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions we get asked most about running ads inside ChatGPT, from access and cost through to who actually sees them.
It runs your paid campaigns inside OpenAI Ads Manager, the platform that places sponsored cards under ChatGPT answers. That covers prompt research, context hints, creative, bidding, tracking and reporting. We also work the organic citation above your card, because the two surfaces share the same prompt research.
ChatGPT ads cost at least the minimum daily budget, which is 25 USD in the United States and varies by billing currency. OpenAI recommends opening CPC bids of $3 to $5 per click. Our management fee is scoped on a call, because it moves with market count and how much tracking you already have.
Ads inside ChatGPT reach everyone except paid-tier users. OpenAI doesn’t show ads to people on Plus, Pro or any Business plan, or to accounts identified as under 18. That ceiling is worth planning around if your buyers sit inside enterprise IT departments.
No, and no agency can create that account for you. OpenAI asks that one account owner at your business creates the advertiser account. Each advertiser needs its own account, and there’s no agency manager account. You set it up, then invite our team under Settings, Users, Invite.
ChatGPT ads targeting has no keyword list and no match type. You write context hints in plain language, describing the conversations your card should sit beside. The system pairs those hints with live intent. Geo targeting and custom audience matching work the way you’d expect them to.
Nine countries have self-serve access: the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Brazil and Mexico. Self-serve is listed as coming soon for 31 European countries. Advertisers there can start now through the OpenAI Ads team or an agency partner. We check your markets before scoping.
No, ChatGPT answers stay separate from paid placement. OpenAI keeps sponsored cards labelled and visually apart, and advertisers don’t receive user conversations. That separation is exactly why the earned citation matters as much as the card does.
The difference is which half of the ChatGPT result you’re buying. Ads buy the sponsored card below the answer. Generative engine optimization works on the answer itself, so your brand gets named and cited inside it. Ads deliver in days and stop when you stop paying, while the organic half takes longer and persists.
A campaign can go live as soon as your account clears verification and your ads clear review. OpenAI reviews advertiser accounts in a rolling queue and does not expedite them, so that step sets the date, not us. We run prompt research, hint drafting and pixel work in parallel so nothing waits on anything else.
Businesses outside the permitted categories, which is most of them at launch. OpenAI currently allows consumer verticals such as household goods, local services, travel and experiences, and digital products or education. Financial services and healthcare get case-by-case approval in the United States only. Everything else is disallowed at launch, so we check your category before scoping.
Run Ads Where Your Buyers
Are Already Asking
Buyers are asking ChatGPT which vendor to pick, right now.
We’ll show you the prompts that matter, what the card costs, and where you already get cited.
4.9/5
Trusted by agencies
and brands worldwide.
