OpenAI has hired a former Meta ad chief and is starting ChatGPT ad pilots in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Early click rates sit at 0.91% against Google's 6.4%, and OpenAI cannot yet prove performance the way other platforms do.
A new ad platform with hundreds of millions of users and a 0.91% click rate is a land grab and a question mark at the same time. Early movers get cheap attention. They also get the bugs.
OpenAI is now in the ad business, and Australia is in the first wave. The company has hired Dave Dugan, a former senior Meta ad executive, to run global ad sales, and ChatGPT ad pilots are starting in Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the coming weeks before expanding to more markets through 2026.
This is the moment the largest AI assistant turns into an ad platform. OpenAI says ads will be clearly labelled and kept separate from ChatGPT's organic answers, and that responses will be driven by what is useful rather than by who paid. The early performance numbers are humbling though. ChatGPT ad click-through rates sit around 0.91%, roughly seven times below Google Search's 6.4% benchmark.
There is a measurement problem underneath the launch. OpenAI will not share chat data, on principle, which means it cannot prove performance the way other platforms do. Dugan has called third-party measurement a natural step, which is the polite way of saying external proof may be the only way to win advertiser trust.
Why it matters
Australia rarely sits in the first pilot wave for anything. Being in this one means local advertisers get early access to a brand-new inventory source before it is crowded and before the price reflects the audience. That is the upside. The downside is everything that comes with version one. Thin measurement, unproven returns and a click rate well below what you are used to.
The click-through rate on ChatGPT ads, against 6.4% for Google Search.
What to do about it
The first ad platform of the AI era just opened its doors here. Walk in curious, not credulous.