ChatGPT ads are here, and Irish and UK businesses can sign up for them directly. OpenAI’s Ads Manager availability list shows Ireland and the United Kingdom as available for self-service.
So you are probably asking three things. Can you actually use them yet? What do they cost? And is this worth your money, or another shiny thing that burns a budget and teaches you nothing?
Here is the short version. ChatGPT ads appear below ChatGPT’s answers, clearly labelled as sponsored. OpenAI says they may appear for people on the Free and Go plans, and not for Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu accounts. You buy them in OpenAI’s Ads Manager, paying per thousand views or per click, and OpenAI recommends starting with a maximum bid of US$3 to US$5 per click.
The platform is new in Ireland and there is no track record for it yet, so any test needs care.
If you would rather have it set up and tested for you, that is part of our paid media service.
What are ChatGPT ads?
They are sponsored results that appear underneath ChatGPT’s answer, matched to what the person has just asked.
Ask ChatGPT what you need to build a garden fence, and it answers the question. Below the answer, there may be an ad from a company selling fence panels.
OpenAI’s ad policy says ads must be clearly distinguishable from ChatGPT’s own product experience.
That separation matters more than it sounds.
It means there are now two ways to show up in ChatGPT. Being named in the answer is SEO, in our view, and our article on query fan-out sets out the reasoning. Being below the answer is an ad.
Can you advertise on ChatGPT in Ireland and the UK?
Yes.
OpenAI began testing ads in the United States on 9 February 2026, according to its ads FAQ. Its Ads Manager availability list now shows Ireland, the United Kingdom and a number of other European countries as available for self-service sign-up.
Both Ireland and the United Kingdom are available. The catch is in the small print: the legal entity that advertises and is billed has to be based in a listed country. For an Irish company, that is straightforward.
Who sees ChatGPT ads?
Not everyone. OpenAI says ads may appear for people on the Free and Go plans of ChatGPT.
Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts have no ads. OpenAI also does not show ads to accounts it identifies as belonging to someone under 18, based on account age information and age prediction where available.
OpenAI says advertisers do not have access to chats, chat history, memories or personal details. They receive only aggregated information about how their ads perform, such as total views or clicks.
What a ChatGPT ad looks like
Every ad carries your advertiser name, your logo (OpenAI calls it a favicon), a headline, a short description, an image and a link to your landing page.
Short is the point. Sixteen characters is two or three short words.
How ChatGPT decides when to show your ad
This is the biggest difference from Google Ads. There are no keywords to bid on.
OpenAI’s system picks ads on expected relevance and results. It weighs the context and intent of the conversation, your landing page, your headline and description, and, where ad personalisation is available, signals from the person’s wider ChatGPT use. OpenAI says personalised ads are not initially available in the European Economic Area, which includes Ireland.
What you provide are context hints. At the ad group level, you describe the conversations, topics or keywords where your product fits. OpenAI is clear that these guide the matching but are not exact-match keywords, and they don’t guarantee your ad appears in any particular conversation.
And some conversations are off limits. OpenAI’s safeguards are designed to keep ads out of sensitive contexts, including mental and personal health and emotionally vulnerable moments.
How much do ChatGPT ads cost?
You set the most you are willing to pay. The auction decides the rest.
You can buy views, paid per thousand impressions, or clicks, paid per click.
You set a maximum bid for each ad group. For click campaigns, OpenAI recommends starting with a maximum bid of US$3 to US$5 per click.
Treat that US$3 to US$5 as a starting point, not a price.
Check Ads Manager for any minimum spend before you set a budget.
Check the country you sign up under, because self-service access depends on it.
How to advertise on ChatGPT
Sign up directly through Ads Manager at ads.openai.com. Account creation and self-service access are separate, so check that Ireland is listed as available before you start. Then build your first campaign. The campaigns hold ad groups, the ad groups hold your bids and context hints, and each ad carries its headline, description, image and landing page.
What you can and can’t advertise
This is where a lot of Irish businesses will find out whether ChatGPT ads are for them yet.
OpenAI’s ad policies say that during the initial period, ads are mainly limited to consumer categories: lifestyle and household goods, local services, travel and experiences, and digital products and education.
Financial, health and legal services are restricted. OpenAI’s ad policy says ads for those services are generally prohibited outside the US, so an Irish business in those fields should check the current policy before planning on them. Dating, adult, alcohol and political ads are not allowed, and gambling is limited to narrow cases. OpenAI says the list may change.
In practice, a furniture shop, a kitchen company, a tour operator or a training course fits the early categories well. A clinic, a financial adviser or a solicitor is in the restricted group, so they should not plan on advertising there yet. A pub promoting its drinks can’t advertise at all.
Two rules apply to everyone. Ads must be truthful, with no exaggerated claims. And they must not imitate ChatGPT’s own interface.
How to measure ChatGPT ads
OpenAI says Ads Manager reporting covers impressions, clicks, spend, click-through rate, average CPC, average CPM and conversions.
To track conversions properly, OpenAI offers conversion measurement tools, so set tracking up before you spend. You can also add UTM tags to your landing page links, which carry through to your own analytics.
What you won’t see is the conversation. OpenAI says advertisers do not have access to chats, so the reporting does not show what people typed before they clicked.
Do ChatGPT ads work?
Nobody can answer that for Irish businesses yet. OpenAI itself describes the European markets as new.
Three things about the platform are worth knowing before you spend a cent.
The recommended bid is a starting point. Judge the campaign on what it delivers, not on the figure OpenAI suggests.
Business buyers are harder to reach. OpenAI says ads may appear for Free and Go users. Anyone on a Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu account does not see ads, including someone using a Business plan through their employer. If you sell to businesses, some of the people you most want to reach are on the other side of that line.
Targeting works by context, not keywords. Context hints guide where your ad can appear, but OpenAI says they do not guarantee delivery in any particular conversation.
The audience rule is set by the platform, so plan around it.
Are ChatGPT ads worth it for an Irish business?
For some businesses, yes, as a test. Not as a replacement for anything.
Ads appear below answers to people who are exploring, comparing and deciding. That fits considered consumer purchases: a new kitchen, a holiday, a piece of furniture, a course. It fits less well when someone needs a plumber in the next hour. They search Google for that, and Google Ads is the better fit for that job.
If you sell to other businesses, be more careful still, because people on a Business plan never see an ad.
So test it with money you can afford to learn with. Set up conversion tracking before you spend anything, start with one tightly written ad group, and judge it on cost per enquiry or sale, the same way you would judge what Google Ads costs.
If it can’t beat your Google or Meta campaigns on that number, it doesn’t get more budget.
And don’t mistake an ad for a recommendation. Ads are labelled and sit below the answer. OpenAI says seeing an ad does not mean it endorses or recommends the advertiser. Getting into the answer is SEO, in our view, and our guide to getting your business listed in ChatGPT covers how.
Questions people ask about ChatGPT ads
Does ChatGPT have ads?
Yes. OpenAI says ads may appear for people on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts have no ads, and accounts identified as belonging to someone under 18 are excluded.
How much does a click on a ChatGPT ad cost?
OpenAI recommends starting with a maximum bid of US$3 to US$5 per click. The auction sets what you actually pay, which can be below your maximum.
Do ads sit inside ChatGPT’s answers?
No. They appear below the answer, and OpenAI says they are clearly labelled and visually separated from ChatGPT’s response.
Can I target keywords with ChatGPT ads?
Not in the Google Ads sense. You give context hints describing the conversations and topics where your product fits. They guide matching but aren’t exact-match keywords.
Is there a minimum spend for ChatGPT ads?
Check Ads Manager for any minimum before you set a budget. You set a maximum bid for each ad group.
Can I pay to be recommended by ChatGPT?
No. You can pay to appear below the answer, and OpenAI says ads do not influence ChatGPT’s answers. Being named in the answer itself is SEO, in our view.
If you’d rather it was set up and tested properly
Tell us what you sell and where, and we will talk through what a test would involve. No obligation.
