ChatGPT Ads cross a $1 billion annualized run rate
OpenAI said on Monday that ChatGPT Ads, its advertising business, has reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate less than 200 days after the product was introduced. The figure was disclosed in a company blog post and reported concurrently by Axios, CNBC, CryptoBriefing and outlets carrying a Reuters wire summary. OpenAI added that "tens of thousands of advertisers" now use ChatGPT Ads, and that the offering is available in more than 40 countries.
The milestone comes ahead of a confidential U.S. initial public offering filing the company made earlier in the year, with reporting indicating OpenAI could seek to go public in 2027 or sooner. Advertising is positioned as a critical revenue lever for supporting free-tier generative AI access and broadening the business beyond consumer subscriptions, enterprise contracts and API usage.
Self-serve tools, SMB uptake and advertiser mix
In the same post, OpenAI said it had opened a self-serve Ads Manager in May and that small and medium-sized businesses now represent a "material share" of ad revenue. The company said the majority of campaigns run on cost-per-click and outcome-optimized bidding, which it described as evidence that the platform can support performance advertisers.
Beginning Monday, advertisers across India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa can purchase ChatGPT ads directly through Ads Manager — a tool that had previously been available only in the United States. OpenAI said advertisers outside the U.S. represent a growing share of revenue, without specifying figures.
Investor targets and historical context
OpenAI told investors it expects to generate about $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year and roughly $100 billion by 2030, according to a source familiar with recent investor presentations cited by Axios. WPP Media projected that generative-AI search ad revenue is the fastest-growing ad format in history and will reach $100 billion globally by 2030, with much of that spend expected to flow to OpenAI and Google.
In April, OpenAI said the U.S. pilot of ChatGPT Ads had crossed $100 million in annualized revenue within six weeks of launch, and CFO Sarah Friar pointed to revenue growth of more than 25% in early August as evidence that the trajectory is not flattening. To meet the $2.5 billion full-year 2026 target, the business would need to more than double its current run rate in the remaining months of the year.
Other developments
Separately on August 31, OpenAI and Microsoft each reported service outages affecting their respective products, with no evidence of a direct link between the two incidents. Separately, OpenAI is ending Cursor's direct access to its AI models on Nov. 12, 2026, following SpaceX's reported acquisition of Cursor parent Anysphere.
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