In the first six weeks of ads being live, the company behind ChatGPT — OpenAI — is already on track to make around $100 million a year from ads.

That’s impressive on its own.

But here’s the bit most people are missing:

👉 Less than 20% of users are even seeing ads yet

So this isn’t fully rolled out. Not even close.

Right now:

• Only a small portion of people see ads
• About 85% of free users could see them eventually
• Over 600 advertisers are already testing it

In simple terms:

This thing has barely started… and it’s already working.

Why this matters

At the moment, access is quite restricted.

But that’s about to change.

What’s expected next:

• Businesses will be able to run ads themselves (no gatekeepers)
• Ads will roll out to more countries
• A senior ads expert (from Meta/Facebook) has been brought in to grow it fast

Once that happens, it becomes:

• Easier to advertise
• More crowded
• More expensive over time

Sound familiar?

This has happened before…

If you’ve ever run ads on:

• Google
• Facebook

…you’ve seen this exact pattern.

Early days:

• Cheap clicks
• Less competition
• Great results

Later on:

• Everyone piles in
• Costs go up
• It gets harder to stand out

The people who win are usually the ones who get in early — not first, but early enough.

What about ad quality?

This is actually one of the more interesting parts.

OpenAI has said:

👉 Less than 7% of ads are considered “low quality”

That’s a good sign.

Why?

Because if ads stay relevant and useful, people don’t ignore them.

And when users don’t ignore ads… they keep working. (Unlike some platforms where ads just become noise.)

The bigger picture

This isn’t a little experiment.

Ads will clearly be a big part of how ChatGPT grows over the next few years — alongside paid subscriptions.

So realistically, we’re going to see:

• More ads appearing
• Better targeting (showing the right ad to the right person)
• More businesses jumping in

What should you actually do?

You don’t need to rush out and start running ads tomorrow.

But you shouldn’t ignore this either.

If you’re already using:

• Google Ads
• Facebook/Instagram Ads
• Any sort of paid marketing

👉 Then this is something to keep an eye on as the next potential channel.

Straight talk

This is one of those moments where:

• It’s proven enough to take seriously
• Still early enough to get an advantage

And those windows don’t stay open forever.

Most businesses wait until something is obvious…

By then, it’s usually more expensive and harder to get results.