OpenAI continues to ship new ad products. (Are you surprised? Don’t be!)
Over the weekend, the company (via a blog post) launched Custom Audiences for ChatGPT Ads, giving advertisers the ability to upload first-party customer and prospect lists using email addresses or phone numbers. Advertisers can now include or exclude those audiences at the campaign level and apply bid adjustments for matched users, bringing a familiar performance marketing capability to ChatGPT Ads.
Why This Matters:
This is another step toward making ChatGPT Ads a more practical buying platform for marketers.
For existing advertisers, Custom Audiences unlock a core capability they’ve come to expect from platforms like Google and Meta. Brands can suppress existing customers from acquisition campaigns, target known prospects with tailored messaging, and bid more aggressively for high-value audiences. In short, it gives advertisers more control over efficiency and campaign performance.
More broadly, the launch shows OpenAI is continuing to rapidly build out the foundational infrastructure of its advertising business. While headline-grabbing AI features often dominate attention, products like audience targeting, measurement, and campaign controls are what ultimately make an ad platform viable for all advertisers. Each new capability brings ChatGPT Ads closer to competing for larger brand and performance budgets.
The rollout also underscores how important advertising has become to OpenAI’s long-term business. As the company continues scaling toward a potential IPO, growing advertising revenue is expected to play a meaningful role in its financial story. At the same time, some reports and industry observers have questioned whether OpenAI can reach its ambitious advertising revenue projections over the next several years. Product launches like this suggest the company is focused on expanding the capabilities needed to support that growth.
Experts React:
Adtech investor and analyst Eric Seufert shared his thoughts on the launch on LinkedIn (see his full dive here):
“I view custom audiences as part of the “critical plumbing” of a modern digital advertising platform; it’s not revolutionary functionality, and, in fact, it’s something any existing Meta advertiser would demand as table stakes. But it’s also yet another indication of the direction in which OpenAI is taking its advertising product as well as a testament to how quickly it is executing against the well-worn Meta playbook.”
Our Take:
OpenAI continues to make moves on its ads product.
Custom Audiences may not be the flashiest announcement, but it’s the kind of feature advertisers expect from any modern ads platform. The faster OpenAI closes the gap with established platforms on targeting, measurement, and campaign management, the stronger its case becomes as a meaningful advertising channel rather than a test or experiment.
(PS, Sam Altman must be cracking up when he sees a headline like this.)
