Short Answer: Where did ChatGPT Ads just expand?
OpenAI began rolling out ChatGPT Ads across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan on September 23, 2026, pushing the ad platform past 60 countries. Ads still appear only to Free and Go plan users, and OpenAI says ChatGPT Ads reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate in under 200 days.
Quick Summary
- OpenAI announced on September 23, 2026 that ChatGPT Ads is rolling out across seven new markets: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan.
- The expansion follows earlier Asia-Pacific launches in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and India, and brings ChatGPT Ads to more than 60 countries total.
- Ads are shown only to users on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscriptions remain ad-free.
- Advertisers can buy through OpenAI’s own Ads Solutions team, agency partners including Dentsu, Havas Media, Omnicom Media, Publicis Groupe, and WPP, or self-serve through Ads Manager.
- OpenAI says ChatGPT Ads hit a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate in under 200 days after launch, with tens of thousands of advertisers now active.
OpenAI announced on September 23, 2026, that ChatGPT Ads is beginning to roll out across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan, extending the ad platform to more than 60 countries. The move follows earlier Asia-Pacific launches in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and India, and lands roughly a month after OpenAI disclosed that ChatGPT Ads had already reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate in less than 200 days.
How Do ChatGPT Ads Actually Work?
OpenAI frames the format around intent rather than interruption: people come to ChatGPT already explaining what they want to accomplish, whether that’s planning a trip, choosing business software, or furnishing a home. Ads are positioned as a way to surface relevant products and services in those exploration-and-evaluation moments, rather than as a separate feed a user has to scroll through.
“We’re at the beginning of a new chapter for advertising, with AI creating new ways for businesses and people to connect,” said Dave Dugan, OpenAI’s Vice President and Head of Global Ads Solutions. “Our expansion into more markets across Asia brings that opportunity to businesses of every size, from global brands looking for new ways to grow to entrepreneurs and startups running their first campaign.”
Who Actually Sees These Ads?
As in every other market where ChatGPT Ads already run, ads are shown only to people on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscribers continue to get an ad-free experience. OpenAI says this is a deliberate trade-off: ads are framed as a way to subsidize free and low-cost access to ChatGPT rather than a monetization layer applied everywhere.
OpenAI also lists a specific set of guardrails it says govern the format: conversations stay private from advertisers and customer data is not sold, ads are clearly labeled and kept visually separate from ChatGPT’s actual answers, advertising does not influence what ChatGPT says in response to a query, and users retain control over ad personalization.
How Can Advertisers Actually Buy In?
OpenAI is offering three paths into the new markets:
- OpenAI’s own Ads Solutions team, for direct enterprise relationships.
- Agency partners, including Dentsu, Havas Media, Omnicom Media, Publicis Groupe, and WPP.
- Self-service through Ads Manager, for eligible businesses that want to run campaigns directly.
Shopee, the Southeast Asian e-commerce platform, is one of the launch partners named in OpenAI’s announcement. “OpenAI is a valued strategic partner for Shopee as we explore how AI can enhance the e-commerce experience for buyers while supporting sellers in growing their businesses,” said Peggy Zhu, Shopee’s Executive Director of Brand and Growth Marketing. “Following the launch of ChatGPT Ads in Brazil, we are pleased to extend this collaboration to Southeast Asia and Taiwan, marking another step in our deepening partnership with OpenAI.” That partnership sits alongside a broader wave of agentic commerce integrations platforms have been racing to build this year.
How Big Is ChatGPT Ads Actually Getting?
OpenAI disclosed at the end of August 2026 that ChatGPT Ads had reached $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate in less than 200 days after launch, with tens of thousands of advertisers now running campaigns, many of them across multiple countries simultaneously. That growth curve lands against a backdrop where more than half of U.S. consumers now use AI tools to shop, giving OpenAI a rapidly expanding, already-AI-native audience to sell placements against.
OpenAI is explicit that this is still an early stage: the company says it plans to keep expanding into new markets over the coming months, alongside new ad formats, optimization tools, and measurement solutions.
Why This Matters
ChatGPT Ads’ expansion is arriving at the same time search platforms are restructuring around AI by default — Google has been auto-migrating advertisers into AI Max campaigns, and AI-driven search traffic keeps compounding across the major answer engines. For marketers, that means the AI-search advertising landscape is now genuinely multi-platform rather than a single experimental channel: Google’s AI Max, ChatGPT Ads, and the various agentic-commerce integrations retailers are building are all now live buying options in the same quarter, not sequential rollouts years apart.
The scale of the expansion is also notable on its own terms. Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing digital ad markets globally, and Taiwan gives OpenAI a foothold in a market it hadn’t previously served. Reaching 60-plus countries this quickly, on top of an already-disclosed $1 billion run rate, suggests OpenAI is treating advertising as a core, fast-scaling product line rather than a side experiment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which countries did ChatGPT Ads just launch in?
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan, announced September 23, 2026. This follows earlier Asia-Pacific launches in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and India, bringing ChatGPT Ads to more than 60 countries total.
Do all ChatGPT users see ads?
No. Ads are shown only to users on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, and Enterprise subscribers continue to have an ad-free experience.
How can a business start advertising on ChatGPT?
Businesses can work with OpenAI’s Ads Solutions team directly, go through an agency partner such as Dentsu, Havas Media, Omnicom Media, Publicis Groupe, or WPP, or use self-service access through Ads Manager if they are eligible.
How much revenue is ChatGPT Ads generating?
OpenAI disclosed at the end of August 2026 that ChatGPT Ads had reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate in less than 200 days after launch, with tens of thousands of advertisers active across multiple countries.
Does advertising affect what ChatGPT says in its answers?
OpenAI states that advertising does not influence the answers ChatGPT provides, and that ads are always clearly labeled and kept visually separate from ChatGPT’s responses.
About the author
Kai Williams
Kai Williams has been in marketing for years, with a long background in SEO before AEO had a name. He stepped into Answer Engine Optimization the moment AI started reshaping how people search, and has been tracking the shift ever since. At Prompt Insider, he covers AEO, AI marketing, and the future of search, breaking down what is changing and what brands need to do about it.
