ChatGPT Ads Reaches $1B Run Rate as EU Designates Service a Very Large Search Engine

OpenAI announced that its digital advertising business, ChatGPT Ads, has surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate in less than 200 days since its inception. The financial milestone arrives alongside a major geographic expansion of the service, as the artificial intelligence research firm launched self-service advertising options for commercial clients across Europe, India, the Middle East, and North Africa.

The rollout of OpenAI's Ads Manager portal permits small and medium-sized businesses to buy advertising inventory directly on the platform for the first time. Previously, access to ChatGPT ad placements was primarily managed through direct sales arrangements or agency partners. OpenAI stated that ad revenues are intended to support the operational costs of its free ChatGPT tier, which serves more than one billion weekly active users worldwide. Commercial advertisements now operate alongside subscription tiers, enterprise service contracts, and paid API integration access to form OpenAI’s multi-pronged monetization strategy.

On the same day that OpenAI unveiled its ad platform expansion, the European Commission officially designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine under the European Union's Digital Services Act, as reported by Euronews. The regulatory classification was triggered after OpenAI reported that ChatGPT reached an average of 159.1 million monthly active users across the European Union. That figure substantially exceeds the 45 million monthly active user benchmark required under European law to trigger mandatory compliance with the EU's strictest digital oversight rules.

Prior to the launch of the self-service advertising manager, commercial ads were already being distributed to users across 31 European nations through OpenAI’s internal sales team and third-party corporate partners, as first reported by The Next Web. The opening of direct-buying access is expected to expand the volume of commercial entities participating in advertising within the conversational AI interface.

The new regulatory status under the Digital Services Act introduces specific transparency mandates for OpenAI’s commercial operations. According to guidance issued by the European Commission, designated search engines must build and maintain a public advertisement repository. This mandatory archive must retain details for at least one year after an advertisement has completed its run. The required public data includes the creative content of the advertisement, the identity of the paying entity, the duration of the campaign, the specific targeting parameters utilized, and total user reach metrics. Most current campaigns running on ChatGPT rely on cost-per-click models and outcome-optimized bidding structures.

The application of certain Digital Services Act provisions to conversational artificial intelligence remains subject to legal interpretation. For instance, the statute’s explicit ban on delivering targeted advertisements based on sensitive personal data profiles was specifically drafted for providers classified as online platforms. Because European regulatory authorities categorized ChatGPT as a search engine rather than an online platform, questions remain regarding how restrictions on targeted profiling will apply to conversational interfaces.

Regarding ad customization practices, OpenAI noted that its ad delivery architecture may incorporate a user’s wider interaction history within ChatGPT, subject to regional regulatory frameworks and individual user settings. The company is actively building toward fully conversational advertisement formats designed to integrate into real-time dialogue. OpenAI has four months to adjust its operations to satisfy all regulatory obligations under the designation, with compliance supervised by Ireland’s digital services coordinator.