OpenAI has flipped the switch on a self-serve ads manager for all US advertisers, opening a new revenue line as the company prepares for an eventual public listing. The platform is live now at ads.openai.com, with cost-per-click bidding and recommended starting bids of $3 to $5 per click.
The launch removes a $50,000 minimum spend that had restricted an earlier pilot, dropping the entry bar for marketers who want to reach ChatGPT users directly. The product ships with a conversions API, a pixel measurement layer and what Jaeden Schafer described on the podcast as a full performance-marketer toolkit.
Pricing tilts the platform toward premium categories. "OpenAI is really targeting, you know, premium, more premium products, five bucks a click," Jaeden Schafer said on the show, naming lawyers, dentists and doctors as the kinds of advertisers who can absorb the bid range. He noted that low-margin sellers, including "T-shirts from Timu," are unlikely to make the math work on $5 clicks.
Key facts
- 01OpenAI's self-serve ads manager went live at ads.openai.com for all US advertisers, with recommended starting bids of $3 to $5 per click.
- 02OpenAI is targeting $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year and $100 billion by 2030, according to Axios reporter Sara Fischer.
- 03The $100 billion 2030 goal roughly matches the current size of YouTube's ad business.
- 04OpenAI scrapped the previous $50,000 minimum spend that had gated its earlier advertiser pilot.
The revenue ambition is steep. Citing Axios reporter Sara Fischer, Schafer said "OpenAI's internal goal is to get $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year and $100 billion by 2030 from this self-serve ad program." The 2030 figure roughly matches the current scale of YouTube's ad business, a benchmark that signals how aggressively OpenAI is positioning the channel against incumbent platforms.
“OpenAI's internal goal is to get $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year and $100 billion by 2030 from this self-serve ad program.”— Jaeden Schafer
The launch arrives as OpenAI courts Wall Street ahead of a potential IPO, giving public-market investors a clearer view of how ChatGPT can monetise its enormous user base beyond subscriptions and API fees. An ads business with measurable performance tooling is the kind of recurring revenue line bankers tend to reward.
Not everyone thinks OpenAI is starting from a position of strength. Robert Webster, who runs the AI marketing consultancy TAU, argued that OpenAI is closer to Meta's starting position than Google's, on the view that ChatGPT users lack the explicit purchase intent that powers search ads.
Schafer pushed back on that framing. He pointed out that ChatGPT increasingly absorbs queries that used to go to Google, with users asking direct questions and, in many cases, replacing search sessions outright. On that read, intent is migrating into the chat window, and the advertisers who learn to bid against it first stand to capture disproportionate returns.
The bigger test is whether OpenAI can ship a measurement and attribution stack that performance buyers trust at scale. The conversions API and pixel are table stakes; closing the loop on ROAS against Meta and Google is the harder problem, and it is the one that will decide whether the $100 billion target is a stretch goal or a credible plan.
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