StackAdapt, Criteo and Adobe are building the ad infrastructure around OpenAI, which is targeting $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year. The race to build the ad tech layer for AI search is on, and the winners will shape how AI advertising works.
Google built its ad empire on search intent. OpenAI is building one on conversational intent. The targeting signal is fundamentally different.
The advertising infrastructure around OpenAI is taking shape. StackAdapt, Criteo and Adobe have been identified as key partners building the ad tech layer that will power advertising within ChatGPT and OpenAI's search products. OpenAI is reportedly targeting $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year.
This is not speculative. OpenAI is actively building its own advertising stack while simultaneously partnering with established ad tech companies to accelerate time to market. The combination signals that OpenAI sees advertising as a core revenue stream, not an experiment.
StackAdapt brings programmatic buying infrastructure. Criteo brings retail media and commerce expertise. Adobe brings creative optimisation and measurement. Together, they represent the demand-side, supply-side and creative layers of a complete ad stack built for AI-native surfaces.
Why it matters
For Australian advertisers, this means a new buying channel is being built in real time. When OpenAI's ad products launch at scale, advertisers will need to decide whether to allocate budget to AI search advertising alongside Google, Meta and the rest. The targeting mechanics will be different. You are not bidding on keywords. You are appearing in the context of a conversation.
OpenAI's reported advertising revenue target for this year, up from near zero
The partners matter too. If Criteo is involved, expect commerce-first ad formats optimised for product recommendations. If Adobe is involved, expect creative personalisation at the impression level. If StackAdapt is involved, expect programmatic access for mid-market buyers. This is not going to be an enterprise-only channel.
What to do about it
You do not need to buy anything today. But you should be monitoring OpenAI's advertising announcements, testing how your brand appears in ChatGPT search results and thinking about what conversational ad creative looks like. The brands that start experimenting with AI search advertising in the first 12 months will set the performance benchmarks. The ones that wait will pay more for the same inventory.