OpenAI Took ChatGPT Ads to 89 Countries — and Its Ad Business Is Growing Faster Than Google's Ever Did

OpenAI is switching on ChatGPT ads in 26 more countries on Wednesday, taking the ad program to 89 markets — and the numbers behind the expansion say this is no longer an experiment. More than 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns on ChatGPT in the eight months since ads launched, according to Reuters. Back in August, OpenAI described its advertiser base as "tens of thousands." Two months later, it has more than tripled.

The expansion skews heavily toward Latin America — 14 of the 26 new markets, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, after earlier launches in Mexico and Brazil — plus Nigeria, South Africa, Serbia, Ukraine, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Ads still appear only on the Free and Go tiers; Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscribers stay ad-free, and OpenAI keeps conversations private from advertisers.

The growth curve is the real story. ChatGPT's ad business hit a $1 billion annualized run rate in under 200 days, and per Fortune it's on track for $2.5 billion in booked ad revenue this year — a pace Google's own ad business took roughly four years to reach. OpenAI now counts more than 1.2 billion weekly users, and the pitch to advertisers is blunt: reach people mid-conversation, while they're still comparing options.

That's also why the timing matters. OpenAI has filed confidentially for an IPO and CNBC has pointed to a possible 2027 listing. Advertising is now explicitly one pillar of a "diversified business model" alongside subscriptions, enterprise deals and the API — but the missing piece is revenue: OpenAI hasn't updated the $1 billion run rate since August, and investors will want a fresher number before any listing.

Rival Anthropic has made the contrast a marketing weapon, pledging to keep Claude ad-free and turning ChatGPT's ads into the target of its first Super Bowl campaign. But OpenAI is already testing what comes next: business-sponsored agents with select US advertisers and picture ads shown during image generation. The race is no longer over whether chatbots take ads — it's over who makes them feel native.

— via Reuters