OpenAI opens ChatGPT Ads to 26 new countries, giving…

The platform now sells placements in 89 markets and says more than 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns since February — bringing a purchase-intent ad surface to small businesses in Latin America, Africa, and emerging Asia for the first time.

OpenAI on Wednesday extended ChatGPT Ads to 26 additional countries, bringing the self-serve ad surface to 89 markets and, for the first time, to small businesses operating in Argentina, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ukraine, and most of Latin America. Fourteen of the new markets sit in Latin America; the rest span South Africa, Serbia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and other emerging-economy founders who, until this week, had no way to buy placement inside the conversation where their customers were already deciding what to purchase.

That’s the actual stakes here. OpenAI frames the inventory as reaching users “as they explore, compare and decide what to buy in ChatGPT,” and PYMNTS reports the platform’s share of consumer product research has climbed from 2% to 30% over roughly two years. A surface that didn’t functionally exist in 2024 is now a meaningful share of pre-purchase intent, and OpenAI is wiring the monetization layer into it market by market.

The company’s revenue trajectory makes the expansion schedule legible. CNBC reports the ads business hit a $1 billion annualized run rate in August, up from $100 million in March. More than 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns since the US pilot opened in February, though PPC Land notes that figure is cumulative and includes anyone who ran a single test, not active spenders.

Founders in newly eligible markets can check eligibility at ads.openai.com. Access runs through “technology partners or self-service access through Ads Manager,” and campaigns are built around “context hints” describing relevant conversation topics rather than keyword lists. Ads appear on the Free and Go plans; Plus, Pro, and Enterprise remain ad-free.

Operational details are thin. OpenAI named only 11 of the 26 markets and hasn’t published per-country activation dates, billing currencies, minimum spends, or supported ad languages. Whether the self-serve legal-entity restriction that applied in Southeast Asia carries into Lagos or Karachi is also unconfirmed.

For small businesses already largely invisible to AI buyers and watching emerging agent-to-business protocols take shape, paid placement is now the first lever that actually ships in their market. The organic layer is still a construction site. The checkout counter opened first.

OpenAI opens ChatGPT Ads to 26 new countries, giving founders in Argentina, Nigeria, and Pakistan a self-serve route to buyers

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