On October 21, OpenAI expanded ChatGPT Ads to 26 more countries. Ads now run in 89 countries, eight months after the first test in the United States. If you run a business in India, this is not brand new: ChatGPT ads came to India in late August, and businesses here can already buy them through OpenAI's self-serve Ads Manager. What the expansion shows is that ads inside AI chat are becoming a serious marketing channel, the way search ads once did. Here is what was announced, how the ads actually work, what they cost in India, and how to try them without wasting money. Every figure links to its source.

1. What OpenAI announced on October 21

In its announcement, OpenAI said it is bringing ChatGPT Ads to 26 additional countries, taking the total to 89. The new markets include 14 more Latin American countries, among them Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, plus Nigeria, South Africa, Serbia, Ukraine, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

OpenAI gave three numbers alongside it. More than 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week. Over 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns since ads launched. And ads appear only on the Free and Go plans; Plus, Pro and Enterprise stay ad-free. CNBC adds the money side: OpenAI's ad business reached a $1 billion annualised revenue run rate in August, up from $100 million in March, according to CNBC's earlier reporting.

OpenAI says the next phase will bring more ad formats, campaign objectives, buying options and measurement tools.

Why it matters: people now ask ChatGPT the questions they used to type into a search box, like "best CA in Surat for GST filing" or "which CRM for a 5-person team". Ads now appear right below those answers, and the people asking are often close to a decision.

2. Where India fits

India was not on the October 21 list because it already has ads. TechCrunch reported on August 27 that OpenAI would start showing ads on the Free and Go plans in India. It started with 50 brands, working with the agencies WPP and Omnicom, and planned a self-serve ad manager for the following month with a minimum daily budget of ₹725 (about $7.60). The same report notes that OpenAI said in February it had more than 100 million weekly ChatGPT users in India.

By September 12, Gadgets Now confirmed the ad system was open to Indian businesses with that ₹725-a-day minimum. That works out to about ₹21,750 for a 30-day month if a campaign runs every day. OpenAI does not publish a fixed price per click or per thousand views. Prices are set by auction.

3. How a ChatGPT ad works

OpenAI's advertiser guide explains the format. An ad appears below a ChatGPT response and has six parts: your business name, your logo (favicon), a headline, a short description, an image and a link to your landing page.

• How ads are matched: OpenAI's system looks at what the current conversation is about and what the user is trying to do. It also reads your landing page, headline and copy, and the "context hints" you write. If the user has ad personalisation on, it also uses some signals from their wider ChatGPT use.
• Context hints are not keywords: you describe the topics or conversations where your product is relevant. OpenAI says these guide matching but are not exact-match keywords, and they don't guarantee your ad shows in a given chat.
• How the auction works: OpenAI uses a relevance-weighted, second-price auction, so how relevant your ad is counts alongside how much you bid.
• Who sees ads: only Free and Go users. There are no ads on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu accounts, and none for accounts identified as belonging to under-18s, per OpenAI's Help Center.
• What advertisers can and can't see: OpenAI says advertisers never see users' chats, memories or personal details. They get only aggregated numbers such as views and clicks. It also says ads do not influence ChatGPT's answers.

4. How to launch your first campaign, step by step

This follows OpenAI's own quickstart guide and advertiser basics. Everything happens in Ads Manager, which is still labelled beta.

1. Create your account at ads.openai.com. Sign in with an OpenAI account on your work email. Add your logo, set up billing and complete account verification.
2. Create a campaign and pick a goal. You can choose Views (you pay per impression), Clicks (you pay per click) or Conversions. With conversion-optimised campaigns billed per click (oCPC), you are charged for valid clicks, not for sales. Set your budget; in India that means at least ₹725 a day.
3. Create an ad group for each customer intent. Write context hints in plain words. For example, a Surat saree shop might write "choosing a Banarasi silk saree for a wedding". Keep each ad group to one theme.
4. Write the ad: a headline, a description, an image and a landing page. Add UTM tags to the link, for example "utm_source=chatgpt". OpenAI says these tags stay on ad clicks, so your usual analytics tool, such as Google Analytics, can show you what that traffic did.
5. Set a maximum bid. For click campaigns, OpenAI suggests starting at $3–5 per click and shows a "bid strength" hint. By our arithmetic, using TechCrunch's conversion of ₹725 to about $7.60, a minimum budget buys only about two clicks a day at that bid. Watch the bid-strength hint, and start with a budget you are happy to test with for two weeks.
6. Watch out for dates. OpenAI notes that your first campaign may not show start and end dates until after you publish it. Don't publish just to reach those settings, because ads can start running once they pass review.
7. Monitor it. Impressions, clicks and CTR refresh about every 15 minutes. Spend can lag by 7–8 hours, so a ₹0 spend early on doesn't mean nothing has been charged.

Right now, ads.openai.com also advertises $500 in ad credit for new advertisers who spend $500. Check the terms for your country before you count on it.

5. Is ₹725 a day worth it? Our take

This part is our opinion, not OpenAI's. ChatGPT ads look best for businesses whose customers research before they buy: software, courses, B2B services, travel, furniture, clinics, wedding shopping. They are a weaker fit if your landing page is thin, or if you can't yet tell which visits turn into enquiries.

• Fix the landing page first. OpenAI's system reads it to decide where your ad fits, so a clear page with prices, location and a contact button helps twice.
• Start with Clicks, one product and two or three ad groups, and give it two weeks before you judge it.
• Judge on enquiries, not impressions. Use your UTM-tagged traffic in analytics, and compare the cost per enquiry with what Google or Meta ads cost you today.

6. Pair paid ads with channels you own

Every rupee you spend on ads is rented attention. The strongest small-business setups pair a paid channel with free ones that keep working when the budget stops. Two that work well alongside ChatGPT ads:

• Turn Instagram comments into leads. With InstaFlow AI, TEKTHRILL's Instagram automation tool, you ask viewers to comment a keyword such as LINK on a Reel. InstaFlow AI replies to the comment and sends your link to their DMs, and it can save them as a lead. It connects through Meta's official Graph API, never asks for your Instagram password, and has a free plan.
• Make the creative yourself. Your ad image and the Reels that go with it don't need an agency. Video Enterprise, our free multi-track editor, has an AI silence remover and auto captions, and it edits on your own device instead of uploading your footage.

7. Using ChatGPT? How to control the ads you see

If you are on the Free or Go plan, OpenAI's Help Center says you can open Settings > Ad Controls to turn off ad personalisation, dismiss ads, see why you were shown an ad, and clear the data used for ads. With personalisation off, you will still see ads, but they are based only on the chat you are in. Plus, Pro and Business plans have no ads at all.

Google is moving in a similar direction. As The Verge reported on October 23, Google's privacy policy now says data from Gmail, Photos and Drive may be used for personalised ads if you connect those apps to its Personal Intelligence AI features. We explain how to check and switch it off in this Short:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZxz7ImDk_E

Watch more daily AI news on the TEKTHRILL YouTube channel.

The bottom line

AI chat is turning into an ad channel, and fast. In eight months ChatGPT Ads went from a US test to 89 countries and over 100,000 advertisers. For Indian businesses the door is already open at ₹725 a day. Try it if your customers do their research in ChatGPT and your landing page can turn a click into an enquiry. Keep the budget small, tag every link, and judge it on real enquiries. Meanwhile, build the free channels, like Instagram, Reels and your own website, that keep bringing customers after the ad budget runs out.

Grow without burning your ad budget

Turn every Instagram comment into a lead with InstaFlow AI (free plan), and get the AI news that matters every day on the TEKTHRILL YouTube channel.

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Sources

1. OpenAI: ChatGPT Ads expands to 26 new countries as over 100,000 advertisers have used the platform
2. CNBC: OpenAI expands ChatGPT Ads to 26 new countries as diversification push accelerates
3. TechCrunch: OpenAI to start showing ads on ChatGPT's free and Go tiers in India
4. Gadgets Now (Times of India): How Much Does It Cost To Advertise On ChatGPT In India? Here's The Minimum Budget
5. OpenAI Help Center: Ads in ChatGPT: The Basics
6. OpenAI Help Center: Quickstart: Launch your first campaign
7. OpenAI Help Center: Ads in ChatGPT
8. OpenAI: New ways to buy ChatGPT ads
9. OpenAI Ads: Advertise in ChatGPT
10. The Verge: Now Google says it might use your Gmail and Google Photos data to target ads

Figures are as published by OpenAI and the outlets above on the dates shown; ad prices are set by auction and change. Checked on October 26, 2026. The cover image is an illustration, not a real ChatGPT screen.