Big Brands Flood ChatGPT with Ads as OpenAI's Ad Revenue Accelerates

OpenAI is aggressively pushing into advertising on its ChatGPT platform, aiming to generate significant revenue from its massive user base. According to Sensor Tower data, mobile users of ChatGPT saw a doubling of ads per hour in July compared to April, indicating rapid acceleration.

The top ad-spending category remains retail, but financial services have seen the largest increase in share of ad spending, rising from 2% in April to 12% in July. This marks a significant shift towards big consumer brands, with Intuit, Booking Holdings, L.L.Bean, and Home Depot joining the likes of Expedia and Quince among top spenders.

Abe Yousef, senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower, notes that the data draws mostly from user panel and external sources. OpenAI has been cautious in its ad rollout, keeping volume low to prioritize user experience while building out self-serve buying and expanding into new regions.