OpenAI pushed eight new features to ChatGPT Ads advertisers on 24 July, led by conversion bidding, advanced matching and mobile measurement partners. The plumbing of a serious performance channel is now in place, and a third major auction is coming for Australian advertisers.
A channel is not serious until you can bid to an outcome and measure it. ChatGPT Ads just crossed that line.
ChatGPT is quietly turning into an ad platform that works like the ones you already run. On 24 July OpenAI pushed eight new features to advertisers in its Ads Manager beta, and the headline is conversion bidding.
The update, reported by MarTech, brings ChatGPT Ads much closer to Google Ads and Meta. Advertisers can now pick a Conversions objective and run conversion-optimised cost-per-click campaigns, so delivery pushes toward the clicks most likely to turn into a sale rather than just cheap clicks. OpenAI also added automatic advanced matching, which uses hashed customer data to improve attribution, plus connections to mobile measurement partners AppsFlyer and Adjust for app install and in-app event tracking. Geographic exclusion targeting landed too.
Read that list again. Conversion objectives. Advanced matching. Measurement partners. Those are the plumbing of a real performance channel, not a novelty.
Why it matters
Every new ad channel starts as a curiosity and a place to burn test budget. It becomes a real line item the moment you can optimise to a conversion and prove the return. ChatGPT Ads just got both. For Australian advertisers that means a third major auction is coming, and the early movers will learn its quirks while everyone else waits for a case study.
New advertiser capabilities OpenAI added to ChatGPT Ads on 24 July, including conversion bidding and advanced matching (MarTech)
The catch is the same as it always is. A new channel does not fix a business that cannot measure the channels it already runs. If your attribution is a mess on Google and Meta, a third auction just gives you a third place to guess.
What to do about it
A third performance auction is good for advertisers. Just do not let the novelty talk you out of the discipline.